‘Game of Thrones’ fans may have felt deja vu watching the seventh episode of HBO’s prequel series ‘House of the Dragon,’ which sparked outrage among many fans as several scenes were too dark to be seen. “Thrones” sparked a similar backlash in its final season, especially for the dimly lit battle episode “The Long Night.” This episode and Episode 7 of “House of the Dragon” were directed by Emmy winner Miguel Sapochnik.
While many fans took to Twitter to express their frustration that “House of the Dragon” was too dark to watch, one of HBO’s social media accounts went public defending the dark moments of the episode as “an intentional creative decision”.
“We appreciate you telling us about a nighttime scene in Episode 7 of ‘House of the Dragon’ appearing dark on your screen,” the HBO Max Help account replied to a fan who wrote that the network should “issue a written apology for literally an entire black screen episode.
“The dim lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision,” the HBO account said.
Many fans claimed the episode was “unwatchable” because the screen was just too dark. Ringer writer and podcaster Joanna Robinson tried to warn fans before the episode aired to update their TV settings to make the screen a bit brighter, adding, “Watch it with all the curtains closed.”
Sapochnik is no stranger to this kind of backlash given the outrage he faced over the dark scenes of “The Long Night.” He spoke to IndieWire at the time and defended the creative choice, saying the dark cinematography was what the show’s atmosphere needed.
“It made sense that this was humanity’s last hope, the last beacon of light, and from the perspective of where we needed the story to go – which needed to come to a surreal and chaotic climax – we needed a friendly environment for that,” Sapochnik said. “So every reason to do it was there, and no one sat there and wondered if it was going to get too dark.”
“House of the Dragon” continues to air Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
