The ‘House Of The Dragon’ Finale Has Leaked Online, Spoilers Abound

As is HBO tradition at this point, despite all their elaborate security measures, the season 1 finale of House of the Dragon has leaked online, and is being distributed widely via torrent sites as we speak.

HBO did not send out press screeners for the House of the Dragon finale, so it’s not some rogue journalist uploading their copy. Rather, this appears to have happened via a distribution partner in Europe, the Middle East or Africa, says HBO.

HBO has issued the follow statement about the leak, which they are none too pleased about:

“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. 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, where it will stream exclusively in 4K.”

Again, this used to happen all the time with HBO to point where they stopped issuing press screeners altogether, but it kept leaking anyway. A few times, episodes simply went online early on various platforms and were available by accident that way.

So I would be careful browsing the internet today and tomorrow, given that pirates have already seen the episode and may be able to spoil what happens. Of course, unlike the final seasons of Game of Thrones, the source material here is actually written, so you do have some idea of what’s coming if you’ve read Fire and Blood. But, we don’t know what may have been changed or handled differently from the books, or where the break point between seasons is going to be exactly. House of the Dragon has already been greenlit for season 2, so we know that this isn’t the end of the whole arc or anything.

I imagine that HBO is going to have a stern word with their distribution partners, as I’m not exactly sure what happened here. It doesn’t sound like the old “accidental upload” situations, as they are specifically citing an “unlawful action.” I don’t think they just mean the illegal act of torrenting the show, but something to do with how the episode got online in the first place. As in, someone may end up getting sued for this.

Just be careful online the next two days if you don’t want anything ruined. Or read Fire and Blood yourself to inoculate yourself fully from spoilers.

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