'House of the Dragon' Season Finale Leak Confuses Fans

Parts of the episode are circulating online, but they're disconnected and out of order.

By Michael Hein

Several scenes from the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale leaked on Tuesday night, and it confused fans more than anything else. The new footage first emerged on TikTok, then cropped up elsewhere in clips that were hard to assemble. Many surprises were ruined for users who looked, as they weren't shown in their proper context.

The TikTok account that first uploaded these House of the Dragon leaks has been suspended, but their content has already been copied to other accounts online. HBO gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying: "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."

Westeros is no stranger to leaks, which plagued Game of Thrones and hit the House of the Dragon Season 1 finale hard. In the past, entire episodes would sometimes leak, so that at least fans who chose to watch the illegal content would see the story in its proper context. That's not the case this week, with a cumulative 33 minutes of new scenes reportedly circulating online. The runtime of the final episode has not been released.

This can be tricky with so many cliffhangers looming for the upcoming episode – even for those that read George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood. The show has made some changes to the book that have ripple effects on the story, and it remains to be seen how those will play out. Fans have the choice to avoid the leaks and the spoilers, but those that already have are discussing them online creating a perilous minefield. On top of that, fans' opinions on the leaked scenes will color their opinions on the episode and the season as a whole, even once they see the story presented in its intended form. This could have a lasting impact on the critical reception of the show.

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HBO did its best to combat leaks with this season, and for the most part they were successful. Leaks were not a major problem for most of the season's run, only making headlines with this episode. The company withheld screeners for the penultimate episode until the last minute, and did not release a screener for the finale at all. However, leaks often come from third-party services that handle distribution of subtitling.

House of the Dragon Season 2 concludes on Sunday, Aug. 4 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. Martin's books, including Fire & Blood, are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.

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