House of the Dragon broadcaster explains reason behind dark screens after Game of Thrones viewers complain

Tobi Akingbade

Somethings never change

House of the Dragon viewers are complaining about the same issue they raised during the original Game Of Thrones series.

It’s a few years after the final credits rolled on the OG HBO series, and fans of the universe created by G.R.R. Martin are still squinting at the screen as the Targaryens carry on with their drama.

Monday night’s episode of House of the Dragon, took place partially at night and left fans complaining, once again, that they can’t see anything, much like ‘Long Night’ a Season 8 episode of Game of Thrones which famously frustrated viewers.

The HBO Max customer service twitter account has been telling viewers who are upset by their lack of ability to see anything that the dim lighting is “an intentional creative decision.”

I find House of the Dragon unwatchably dark on the M1 iPad Air at max brightness. Is this an HBO problem? Show? iPad?

— Antonio Villas-Boas (@tonyvstech) September 21, 2022

Lol I haven’t even seen episode 7 yet. I noticed the darkness weeks ago. Sounds like ep.7 is a doozy.

— Antonio Villas-Boas (@tonyvstech) October 4, 2022

Replying to a tweet, they said: “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.”

https://twitter.com/CallSignWhisker/status/1576949775127019520

Both this episode and ‘The Long Night’ were directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who won an Emmy for the Game of Thrones episode ‘Battle of the Bastards.’

A Game of Thrones cinematographer previously said that ‘The Long Night’ looked too dark to viewers because of how HBO compresses its shows for streaming.

At the time, James Willcox, senior electronics editor at Consumer Reports, told Motherboard that the issue could also be traced to what kind of TV you’re watching the show on.

“One reason is that most TVs are LCD sets that have a tough time producing very deep blacks, due to the backlights. The shows are being mastered on expensive monitors, probably an OLED monitor where the black details are more obvious,” Willcox said.

Turn your brightness up everyone!