The critically acclaimed HBO series House of the Dragon has had its season 2 finale episode leaked the general public, four days before its intended release.

According to unverified reports, an Icelandic streaming service had accidentally released the episode to the public before the official upload date, and before the error was realized, elements of the finale had been seen, recorded, and from there spread across the internet.

The first confirmed wave of these leaks appears to have originated from a hastily made TikTok account, where several clips from the upcoming episode were uploaded. The clips were not posted in any particular order or fashion but combined made up a little over 30 minutes of run time.

With the entire finale said to be an hour and thirteen minutes, this means that just over 40 per-cent of the entire episode has been released.

The TikTok account that first shared the leaks was soon taken down, but the various clips shown had by then already been downloaded and shared to other websites, such as Reddit, X, and YouTube.

From this point, any chance of quickly suppressing the information and revealed scenes was gone.

The shared scenes are ones that contain major plot points and storylines. The discussion on the leaked scenes is intense, with spoilers being prevalent on the various social media platforms.

The overall opinion on the leaks has been mixed. Many hardcore fans and readers of the ‘Fire and Blood’ Book which House of the Dragon is based on have expressed dismay at the choice and direction the show-writers have taken several characters. However, much of the general audience has displayed awe and excitement.

The HBO Game of Thrones franchise is no stranger to leaks. The season 1 finale of House of the Dragon in 2022 was also leaked early to the public. The final season of Game of Thrones also had many of its moments pre-emptively leaked, contributing to the negative opinion the ending of that show has among much of its fandom.

House of the Dragon’s season 2 finale episode is to be officially released on Sunday, August 4th.