Summary
House of the Dragonhas suffered a massive leak ahead of its highly anticipated season finale despite efforts to avoid this exact outcome. This is the second time in the show’s two-season history that such a massive leak is disrupting the rollout.
House of the Dragonhas pulled off a feat that few thought possible back in the 2010s; serving as a spin-off to the legendaryGame of Thrones,the show has managed to live up to the hype and even step out of its predecessor’s shadow to embody its own identity. Based onGame of Thronescreator George R.R. Martin’s 2018 bookFire and Bloodand taking place almost two centuries prior to the events of the first series, the plot of House of the Dragon has riveted fans with itsGame of Thrones-esque appeal constrained within a much less ambitious and spread-out narrative. After a successful and record-breaking first season run, the show’s second season would kick off its run byintroducing a few new houses in its second seasonand starting the Dance of the Dragons succession war in earnest.
After a stellar run on the second season, which saw somecontroversial content worthy ofGame of Thrones,bad news has emerged forHouse of the Dragonas it closes in on its season finale at the end of the week. Reports indicate that a sizeable portion of the final episode for season 2 has already been leaked online, making its way to TikTok and other social media sites for illicit viewing. Several clips from the episode were uploaded by a single account before it could be stopped, totaling about 30 minutes or half the runtime of the episode, and these clips are now spreading around on other social media despite the originator being banned. In a statement provided by an HBO spokesperson toVariety, the company addresses the issue, narrowing the source of the leak and urging fans to make use of the proper channels to access the content when it officially releases on Sunday.
We are aware that clips from the House of the Dragon season finale have surfaced across social media platforms. The clips were posted after an unintentional release from an international third-party distributor. HBO is aggressively monitoring and removing clips from the internet, and fans can watch the episode in its entirety this Sunday night on HBO and Max.
This is bad news for the show, which alreadysuffered a review-bombing after episode six, which features one of the aforementioned controversial segments. This incident comes just days before the show’s finale, which might contribute to a decline in viewership. The incident also mirrors one that occurred at the end of season one of the show, which saw the final episode leak online just two days before its October 2022 premiere. That leak had apparently been the result of a distribution partner in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa failing to keep a proper lid on things. Learning from the past, HBO reportedly took action to avoid this fate, even refusing to send out journalist copies of the film, which still failed to plug the leak coming from one of the company’s affiliated distributors.
Like all great predecessors,Game of Throneshas a few advantages overHouse of the Dragon,but being safe from internet hacks and leaks is certainly not on that list. This is an issue that has plagued the franchise from the moment it became a worldwide phenomenon following its phenomenal first season on HBO. The problems have only worsened since then, as increased popularity has net the shows more attention from piracy and leakshare groups.
In a similar fashion toHouse of the Dragonseason two’s early confirmation, the show was renewed for a third season well in advance of the second installment’s premiere. While this shows massive confidence and means that the show isn’t fighting for its life with its finale ratings and viewership, this leak is still endemic of a major issue that needs to be reigned in well in advance of the season three finale, which is guaranteed to have higher stakes.
House of the Dragonis available for streaming on Max and on linear programming on HBO, with the season 2 finale set for 4 August, 2024.
