HBO has issued the following statement in response to the reported connection:
The ninth episode of House of the Dragon has been leaked on torrent sites, which is something we are aware of. As far as can be told, it came from a distributor in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. HBO is actively policing the internet to remove such illegal copies. We regret that this illegal activity has hampered the viewing experience for dedicated viewers, but the programme will air in its original, unaltered form on Sunday on HBO and HBO Max, where it will be available exclusively in 4K streaming. Coming back to Westeros has been fantastic. House of the Dragon, airing on HBO, has successfully met the high standards set by its status as a precursor to the massively popular Game of Thrones.
After nine episodes of unpredictable plot turn, shifting alliances, and good old-fashioned Westerosi manoeuvring from characters like Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and the fairly vile Lord Larys Strong, the series has finally reached its conclusion (Matthew Needham). The season one finale of the HBO show will premiere on October 23. The highly-anticipated episode appears to have been leaked online, though. It is unclear how the conclusion made its way online, but fans are talking about it on social media. The breakup is especially disappointing given how close it is to the release of the series finale.
Twitter will be a veritable landmine of spoilers until at least Sunday, so tread carefully through your feeds. There’s a good chance you should remain away from social media for a few days, or at least be very cautious, given the current climate. The best and safest thing to do would be to stay home over the weekend and watch all nine episodes at once; maybe this time you’ll catch any hidden references you missed the first time around. This isn’t the first time HBO and its viewers have butted heads since the show’s August launch, and it’s safe to assume that viewers will be dissatisfied with this latest twist as well. HBO Max, which provides access to the show, had some downtime after the series premiere because of the unprecedented popularity of the episode.
As the seventh episode aired, HBO once again found itself in the limelight as viewers complained that the programme was excessively gloomy, with some even calling it “unwatchable.” On October 23, the season finale of House of the Dragon will be broadcast on Netflix.