The second season of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon officially debuted on Max on June 16, but the season’s highly-anticipated rollout left some viewers in the dark.
Or, more accurately, in the quiet. Issues with the first episode’s audio were widely reported in the wake of the show’s big return, leaving a number of viewers frustrated and grappling with a glitchy rollout. Following months of eager anticipation, the issues were met with broad irritation from fans, some of whom opted to hold off on their viewings until the audio problems had been resolved.
What happened with the audio on House of the Dragon?
While audio issues appeared to be rampant across House of the Dragon season 2 viewers, they thankfully didn’t extend to the entire episode. Viewers started flagging audio glitches the moment the episode came available to watch, but those glitches largely related to the season 1 recap, preview for episode 2, and commentary from the show runner and season 2 stars.
What wasn’t affected, many people were quick to note, were the ads that preceded the episode and were scattered through its runtime. Ads seemed to function fine for the majority of viewers, even as they grappled with a complete loss of sound during far more vital moments, which was noted as a source of extreme irritation for the vast majority of jilted viewers.
The issue was widespread enough to pull in rampant complaints, but since the audio failings didn’t affect the episode itself, most people shrugged them off with little but a frustrated eye-roll. They were likely related to the high traffic prompted by the fresh House of the Dragon season, and viewers are broadly hoping they’ll be resolved before episode 2 airs on Sunday, June 23.