HBO has been the host and home to the Game of Thrones universe and by extension to House of the Dragon for quite some time now. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned television company has suffered its fair share of distraught over the years, and that has sent HBO into damage control mode more than once. The latest incident happens to be targeted at its current chart-topper, House of the Dragon, whose season finale leaked on Friday, two days before it was scheduled to air.
HBO’s House of the Dragon Season 1 Finale Leaks Online
The Game of Thrones prequel series navigates the era when the Targaryens ruled the Seven Kingdoms and could boast of a peaceful and flourishing dynasty under the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen. However, nothing is as it seems in a world that revolves around the Iron Throne. With the end of Viserys’s reign comes a power struggle for the line of succession and with it begins the long-awaited vision of Aegon’s coming.
However, as the series’s first season approaches its climactic closure, HBO loses its tenth episode, titled The Black Queen from its sealed and secured iron vault. The episode after getting leaked online was quickly and unsurprisingly downloaded onto several thousand platforms, even as the company scurries into damage-control mode by “aggressively monitoring and pulling these [leaked] copies from the internet.” Luckily, this is not the first time a leak has occurred at HBO and the management has experience getting things back on track before much harm can be done.
HBO Releases Formal Statement in the Aftermath of the Leak
On October 21st, 2022, HBO released an official statement to Variety denouncing the leak and informing the public of the strategies being put into place to get back the tenth episode of House of the Dragon.
“We are aware that the tenth episode of House of the Dragon has been posted on illegal torrent sites. It appears to have originated from a distribution partner in the EMEA region [Europe, the Middle East or Africa]. HBO is aggressively monitoring and pulling these copies from the internet. We’re disappointed that this unlawful action has disrupted the viewing experience for loyal fans of the show, who will get to see a pristine version of the episode when it premieres Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.”
The Black Queen, written by Ryan Condal and directed by Greg Yaitanes, will witness the aftermath of the fallout between the great houses of Westeros who had gathered on the behest of Otto Hightower. Queen Alicent’s desperate scramble to put Aegon on the throne will finally reach a climactic closure after she misinterprets Viserys’s confession about the Song of Ice and Fire on the latter’s deathbed. And Rhaenyra prepares for war as Westeros chooses between the Greens and the Blacks.
The Black Queen will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on October 23, 2022.
Source: Variety
