House of the Dragon fans were not happy during Sunday night’s (Oct. 2) episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series, as they complained about the episode being too dark, particularly in multiple grim, grey scenes filmed in “day for night.” It’s not the first time Westeros fans have lashed out at the franchise’s dark screens, and it certainly won’t be the last. But it is the latest.
And HBO’s Twitter account was working harder than Larys setting up a scheme as it responded to fan accounts who took to the platform to blast the decision to use the dim lighting — assuring viewers that it was, in fact, on purpose.
“We appreciate you reaching out about a night scene in House of the Dragon: Episode 7 appearing dark on your screen,” they wrote. “The dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision. Thanks!”
While the “creative decision” is nothing new to director Miguel Sapochnik, who used similar lighting in the Game of Thrones episode, “The Long Night,” from the show’s final season, it still didn’t sway fans, who were fuming over not being able to see anything.
“This episode spent almost 20mins being too dark to see anything,” one wrote. “Are they lowering the brightness to hide how cheap they are?”
Another said, “Damn why the fuck is it so dark this episode it’s worse than the long night I can’t see shit,” while a third person posted, “I’m so sick of these episodes being so dark (in color) … This isn’t art, it’s annoying.”
Yo, I just gotta ask, why was episode 7 of #HouseOfTheDragon so god damn dark and difficult to see (especially during night scenes)? Every other episode has been nicely lit, and then this episode’s daytime shots were like this pic.twitter.com/1zCGGRuAug
— C0RVIN (@C0RVINs_Artwork) October 3, 2022
“The first half of the episode was so fvcking dark HBO you better do something cause I didn’t see shit,” another fan fumed.
Someone else asked, “Dear @hbomax, we get that the show in and of itself is dark and foreboding, but must I spend half the episode squinting because it’s so dark I can’t see shit??”
While someone said they were “beginning to wonder if it’s even worth it” to continue watching the show, another wrote, “I’m not joking when I say the lighting in the episode actually ruined the viewing experience for me. I like this episode less than I should because of how fucking dark and desaturated it is.”
If fans had been able to watch the episode, they would have been treated to a sex scene between Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and his niece, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). So maybe the darkness was for the best?
House of the Dragon airs on Sunday nights at 9/8c on HBO and HBO Max.
