'House of the Dragon' Episode 1 LEAKED as HBO launches Internet-wide hunt for pirates

'House of the Dragon' episode 1 should have ideally been released on HBO Max on Sunday, August 21 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT.
A still from 'House of the Dragon' (HBO)
A still from 'House of the Dragon' (HBO)

Note: This story contains NO leaks and spoilers

Episode 1 of HBO's much-awaited prequel of 'Game of Thrones' was leaked earlier on Saturday. 'House of the Dragon' was initially slated to premiere on August 21 on both the network and the streaming platform HBO Max, but the season opener's complete episode was leaked online and did the rounds on Twitter as well. This comes on the back of HBO issuing a DMCA after a couple of Redditors leaked the entire season's plotline.

Per a TechRadar report, 'House of the Dragon' episode 1 should have ideally been released on HBO Max on Sunday, August 21 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. With the episode now generating buzz on torrents, fans will mostly have had early access to the first episode. Earlier, reports of HBO hot in their hunt for the leaked parties did the rounds on Twitter. Per Torrentfeak, the network filed documents at a California court by Patrick Perkins, Senior Vice President, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

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The filing from Perkins includes 20 pages of communications with Reddit starting August 4 this year and relates to several DMCA takedown notices sent by WB. The notice asked the original post made by ‘HOTDleaks’ alongside a claim that it comprised a complete “Leaked full summary of episode 1 of the upcoming HBO series HOUSE OF THE DRAGON". The notice had made the instructions pretty clear when it said “Please remove immediately.”

The official synopsis reads, "The reign of House Targaryen begins. House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones, is coming to HBO and HBO Max on August 21. Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.

Paddy Considine (HBO’s The Third Day and The Outsider), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint (It’s a Sin, Doctor Who), Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans to star. Additional cast members include Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes, and Savannah Steyn. 

Martin and Ryan Condal serve as co-creators of the series. Miguel Sapochnik and Condal are showrunners, and the pair also serve as executive producers along with Martin, Sara Hess, Jocelyn Diaz, Vince Gerardis, and Ron Schmidt. Clare Kilner and Geeta Vasant Patel also direct the series. Greg Yaitanes is the director and co-executive producer. Game of Thrones and Westworld composer Ramin Djawadi scored the series"

'House of the Dragon' premieres 9 pm ET on HBO on August 21 and will also be available for streaming on HBO Max.

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