A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1, Episode 3 left fans with a lot of questions, and it seems they won't have to wait too long for answers.
In an unexpected scheduling move, HBO has announced that the fourth episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will release on Friday, February 6, at 3:01 a.m. ET on HBO Max. HBO will then air the episode as planned on Sunday, February 8, at 10/9c.
So what's up with the early release of Episode 4? Well, it appears that the move is HBO's contingency plan for the Super Bowl. Rather than simply pulling the next episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms from the schedule on Sunday, February 8, HBO is choosing to release the episode early via HBO Max.
The move honestly makes sense, as the show's late-night spot in HBO's schedule would put A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4 against the final stretch of the Super Bowl, which typically wraps up around 11 p.m. ET. It's clear that HBO is anticipating that few viewers will tune in to watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms live on Super Bowl Sunday, and they're looking to get the episode out in front of fans early.
What is interesting is that HBO is choosing to drop A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4 in the middle of the night, rather than giving the show a primetime drop on HBO Max. Yes, the 3 a.m. ET drop is great for international fans, but it means that fans based in the U.S. are going to have to either wake up early to watch the episode or have to work hard to avoid spoilers on social media until they can watch the episode in the evening.
This show has quickly become appointment TV for Game of Thrones fans, and Episode 4 will be a major episode after Episode 3's Egg reveal. You would think that HBO would want to try to capitalize on that hype by dropping the episode on Friday night rather than dropping it in the middle of the night. This means fans will be watching at varying times rather than tuning in together to watch the show live, which feels like a miss given how big Episode 4 will likely be.
It'll be interesting to see how the early release date and time for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4 impact the episode's overall viewership. We imagine fans will certainly be tuning in to find out more about Egg after the big reveal in Episode 3, so HBO likely doesn't have to worry about the episode release strategy shift turning fans away.
Following the fourth episode, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will return to its normal Sunday night time slot with episode 5 dropping at 10/9c on February 15 and the season finale (Episode 6) arriving on February 22.