HBO issued a statement regarding the leaked episode of 'House of the Dragon' Season Finale and said that they are disappointed that this unlawful action has ruined the fans' viewing experience.
View of the backdrop for the World premiere of HBO original drama series "House of the Dragon" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, July 27, 2022.CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo : CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)) View of the backdrop for the World premiere of HBO original drama series "House of the Dragon" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, July 27, 2022.
House of the Dragon Season Finale Leak
A report from The Verge states that House of Dragon's episode for its season finale was leaked online only two days before its release to the public and began streaming on HBO Max. The leak possibly came from the streaming company's distribution partner either in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East, as per HBO.
Possible spoilers may already be circulating in social media. Although according to the report, no new information was shown in the leak as the plot and ending were already obtained from its source material, Fire and Blood, by George R.R. Martin.
HBO's Statement
HBO was very disappointed due to the ruined viewing experience of the fans by the ones who leaked this episode, based on the given statement by the company to IGN.
The streaming company is aware of what is happening on the internet and is taking legal action against the ones who posted the leaked episode on illegal torrent sites. "HBO is aggressively monitoring and pulling these copies from the internet," the company added.
This episode was set to release this coming weekend, October 23rd, at 6:00 PM PT and 9:00 PM ET. You can watch this episode legally on the HBO channel or can be streamed it on HBO Max once it is released.
Previous Leaks
While this is the first leak for the series, this is not new to the whole franchise, as Game of Thrones frequently experienced the same situations, most especially in its final season.
Despite the happenings to the previous franchise, Variety reported that HBO did not prevent this problem. In GOT's Season 8, some episodes appeared on both legal and illegal streaming platforms before its release. These are DirecTV Now and Amazon Prime Video in Germany. This caused several spoilers on social media that dismayed both the company and the fans.
During House of Dragon's premiere episode, several backlashes from the fans were received by the franchise as it faced some issues, such as disappearing content and unreleased materials. Glitches were also visible during its premiere, as even app-crashing.
Chris Willard from HBO released a statement through The Verge to clarify these issues. He said that "House of the Dragon is being successfully viewed by millions of HBO Max subscribers this evening. We're aware of a small portion of users attempting to connect via Fire TV devices that are having issues and are in the process of resolving for those impacted users."
