HBO Releases Statement About ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Finale Leak
The company is commenting on its highly anticipated season finale leaking several days ahead of its planned premiere date.
Sonoya Mizuno and Emma D’arcy in “Smallfolk.”
Ollie Upton/HBOHBO is addressing the second season finale of House of the Dragon leaking early onto social media.
Dozens of clips from the eighth episode, scheduled to premiere on Aug. 4, were illegally uploaded to a TikTok account Tuesday night and quickly spread across other social media sites. The clips appeared to be captured by someone filming a screen with a secondary device.
The company released this statement: “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.”
The leak marks the second season in a row that the popular fantasy drama’s finale leaked online ahead of its planned release.
The Game of Thrones franchise has a long history of content leaks, which typically occur in the week before air when an episode is sent to HBO’s content partners around the world. The 2022 leak, for instance, was traced to a distribution partner that covered Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A locked episode being given day-and-date global distribution has to pass through many hands prior to air, particularly for regional subtitle dubbing.