HBO Responds To ‘Unwatchable’ Criticism Of ‘House Of The Dragon’

“House of the Dragon” fans have experienced their first glitch of the season and are unhappy about it!

Since the HBO show — a prequel to “Game of Thrones” — began streaming seven weeks ago, it has received nothing but great reviews from viewers. That is until its producers made a “creative” decision that did not go down well with its multimillion watchers.

“House of the Dragon” Fans Are Unsatisfied By HBO’s Creative Choices In Seventh Episode

Shortly after a Twitter user finished watching the latest episode in the story of the Targaryen civil war that happened about 200 years before the events portrayed in “GOT,” he had a few things to get off his chest. They took to the social media platform to tweet:

“I’m gonna need @hbomax to issue a written apology for literally a whole episode of black screen of #HouseOfTheDragon. This is ridiculous.”

Within minutes, the official help page for the streaming platform responded, mentioning their appreciation that the viewer reached out about “a night scene in House of the Dragon: Episode 7 appearing dark on your screen.”

The rep, who identified as LL, added that the “dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision” – a response that others were prompt to counter with their takes with one writing:

“Fool me once, shame on you. Twice, shame on me. There won’t be a third as we won’t be watching. Had you said, “sorry, we effed up,” people would accept. But to imply an audience isn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate is… wow. That content isn’t good enough to be held hostage.”

Hi Stephen! We appreciate you reaching out about a night scene in House of the Dragon: Episode 7 appearing dark on your screen. The dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision. Thanks! ^LL

— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) October 3, 2022

Another Twitter user advised, “Here is a crazy idea, stop hiring someone that makes those “creative decisions” No one seems to like it.” A third revealed that they “literally had to turn off all the lights in the room and cover the windows to even see anything” due to the “dreadful” lighting in the seventh episode. 

The viewer added that even though it “might be a creative decision,” it was “not a good one,” asking HBO staff to “consider the viewers next time.” A fourth person told them to “Tell Sapochnik to stop editing with sunglasses on. I already own the Fire & Blood audiobook.”

Most of the outrage from fans are spillovers from the anguish felt during the final season of “GOT,” especially for its dimly-lit “The Long Night” episode. As it turned out, Emmy winner Miguel Sapochnik directed that episode and the seventh episode of “House of the Dragon.”

At the time that the “GOT” episode received backlash, Sapochnik defended the creative choice, claiming that the drama series called for a darkly-lit atmosphere. In the 48-year-old’s words:

“It made sense that this was the last hope humanity has, the last beacon of light, and from the perspective of where we needed the story to go — which was to reach a surreal, chaotic climax — we needed an environment that was friendly to that.”

“HOTD” Undergoes Character Changes Barely Two Months After It Began Airing

The sixth episode of “HOTD” came with a swap, thanks to a time jump that influenced a change of characters. As reported by The Blast, Emma D’Arcy replaced Milly Alcock to star as the older version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Besides Rhaenyra, Emily Carey — who played Alicent Hightower — and the actors of the Velaryon twins were also swapped. Speaking on having to fill the big shoes of Alcock, who became a fan favorite within a short period, D’Arcy said:

“It’s complicated, isn’t it? It’s a difficult point at which to meet an audience. They only get me when they lose Milly, so they meet me in a place of grief, of losing someone they just spent five hours with. I’m… I’m well aware of that.”

With that in mind, the 30-year-old reached out to her co-star Matt Smith, who was in a similar situation when he replaced David Tennant as the lead star in the British science-fiction “Doctor Who.” 

D’Arcy recalled, “I had a nice chat with Matt the other day, and he said it’s like the ‘Doctor Who curse. You’ve got to regenerate. And yeah, unfortunately, Rhaenyra is going to completely change body and face in a couple of hours.”