House of the Dragon season 1 episode 10 leaks; will it hurt HBO?

Just two days before the House of the Dragon season 1 finale was scheduled to air on HBO, the network has fallen victim to an unexpected leak.

Today, the final episode of the series titled “The Black Queen” first surfaced on illegal sharing sites (which we are NOT sharing out of respect for HBO and all who worked on this show), which led to a prompt statement from the network (via Variety)

“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 [Europe, Middle East, and Africa] 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.”

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The question that we do find ourselves wondering here is simply this: Just how much this will end up hurting the network. Is that something you should worry about?

In the end, we don’t think the bulk of viewers will be interested in watching some non-HD version of the finale posted on the internet. We still feel as though the episode will draw enormous numbers on its way to season 2. The major concerns, beyond the obvious breach of the network’s protocols, is that this could inhibit it from setting some ratings records, or that it will lead to a spread of spoilers online. Sure, there are plenty of book spoilers out there from Fire & Blood, but there are certain things producers were hoping to surprise more casual viewers with when it comes to Sunday’s episode.

This is not the first time that HBO has dealt with episode leaks within the Game of Thrones universe. This one just could as a surprise since this episode was not screened for critics in advance.

Related – Check out more info on the House of the Dragon finale right now

Do you think that the House of the Dragon finale leak will end up hurting HBO?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Once you do that, come back for some other updates. (Photo: HBO.)

This article was written by Jessica BunBun. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.