HBO is furious: the final episode of ‘House of the Dragon’ was posted on the network – a few days before its official appearance on the air
House of the Dragon, which follows in the footsteps of Game of Thrones – the final series of the spin-off, was recently leaked online and HBO launched a fierce campaign to track down and remove the copy from the Internet.
In a statement provided to IGN and Variety, HBO said it was disappointed in how “this illegal action disrupted the viewing experience for loyal fans of the show.” It is also noted that all copies are now “strictly tracked and removed from the Internet”.
The leak appears to have originated from a distribution partner in Europe, the Middle East or Africa, an HBO spokesperson said.
“We know that the tenth episode of “House of the Dragon” was posted on illegal torrent sites. All things considered, it appears that the leak originated from a distribution partner in the EMEA region,” reads the full statement.
Indeed, this means that viewers of the series on social networks may encounter a lot of spoilers. However, the finale of the show will not necessarily be new (especially for the most devoted fans of the series), given that the series is filmed relatively close to the source material of the book.
The last episode of the first season of “House of the Dragon” is scheduled to be released on HBO tomorrow, October 23. The finale should show how Rhaenyra will react to the coronation of her half-brother Aegon.
The Game of Thrones spinoff was the biggest debut of an original HBO series, drawing nearly 10 million viewers during its Sunday night run. That’s about 8 million more than the original Game of Thrones, when it debuted in 2011 with 2.22 million viewers. House of the Dragon is based on George Martin’s book Fire and Blood, which tells the story of House Targaryen about 200 years before the events of the original Game of Thrones.
In August, HBO announced that it was renewing House of the Dragon for a second season. In total, at least seven Game of Thrones spinoffs are being developed.
