The first episode of House of the Dragon was available to watch online a few hours before it aired, and the season finale has now followed suit a full two days before its official premiere.
The tenth episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series was uploaded to various illegal torrent/streaming sites late last night. The leak is believed to have originated from a distribution partner in Europe, the Middle East or Africa.
"The Black Queen" will pick up after the explosive events of last week's penultimate hour, as Rhaenyra learns about her father Viserys' death and the coronation of her half-brother, Aegon.
As you might expect, the finale is set to be highly eventful, as it sets-up the brutal civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons - and HBO is not happy about the episode leaking before fans get the opportunity to watch this Sunday.
“We are aware that the tenth episode of House of the Dragon has been posted on illegal torrent sites," a network rep said in a statement to Variety. "It appears to have originated from a distribution partner in the EMEA region,” the full statement reads. “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.”
The episode was actually leaked in pretty decent quality - not that we're encouraging anyone to seek it out - but we're sure the majority of fans are still going to tune in this Sunday, and don't imagine this costing HBO that many viewers.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.