Looking to watch House of Dragon in the UK once it launches in August? House of Dragon is a spin-off series to the well loved and respected series Game of Thrones, and after a long wait, is is bringing the world of George R. R. Martin back. One way to watch it in the UK is via Sky and specifically Sky Atlantic. If you however don’t want to have to deal with Sky due to the cost or content they offer, that’s where HBO Max comes in as a service that offers content that HBO creates such as House of Dragon and Game of Thrones while also offering many other series and movies, including cinema releases.
The catch?
HBO Max is not currently available in the UK and isn’t going to be any time soon. And that’s where this guide comes in showing you how to make HBO work regardless of that, so that you can watch House of Dragon via it while accessing a lot of other content that HBO has access to.
To unblock HBO Max so that you can watch House of Dragon, there are two main steps that you will need to apply.
It’s to make sure that HBO thinks you are in one of the HBO supported regions where that’s the US or one of the other countries that support HBO such as Sweden. Apart from that, you also need to bypass HBO’s card location verification. Essentially, if you look like you are in the US, you need to have a payment card issued in the US, and so on.
If you have the right connections or have a card issued in places like the US or other HBO supported regions, that makes it easier, but if you don’t, we still have straight forward steps for how to do it.
If HBO thinks you are in the US, it will let you in so that you can watch House of Dragon or whatever else you want to watch. If it doesn’t see you as someone that is in a supported region though, you won’t have that ability.
That’s why it’s key to always look like you are in a supported region.
How do you look like you are in a supported region? By using a VPN.
VPN services? They allow you to change your location virtually. You can look like you are in the US, while being in the UK, with just a few clicks, via an IP address change.
Is it that simple? Not quite.
VPN services are a constant target of streaming services, in order for them not to break their content agreements.
And that’s where PrivateVPN comes in as a service with a focus on fewer servers (several hundred instead of thousands) but instead a focus on quality and making sure that servers work correctly. If you look at our Trustpilot reviews, we have a rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on over 1,400 reviews.
Setting up with PrivateVPN is quite easy.
As far as making it look like you are in the right region for HBO, that’s it. By using a VPN you will be able to make HBO think you are in the right region, thus meaning you will be able to access the platform, and if you already have an HBO Max account or are able to get help from someone that is in the right region, then that’s it. Otherwise, that’s where the second step of this House of Dragon in the UK guide comes in.
Right now if you try to create a HBO Max account, let’s say when connected to the US virtually, and don’t have a US issued card, in almost all cases, you will be told that your card is not issued in the right country.
Some cards do work so it never hurts to try, but whether your card works or not, there is an easy trick to bypass HBO’s card verification blocks. It’s to sign up for HBO Max from your mobile device directly.
Why?
As while HBO has card verification on their website, when it comes to mobile devices, it’s both Google and Apple taking care of payments, and they don’t have such methods of verification.
The catch? That you will need to change the app store region to where HBO is supported so that you can download the HBO app in the first place.
Start by logging out of your iCloud account followed by creating a new account with your location set to be in any of the major HBO locations. In our case we will use the US. Now download HBO Max, and while connected to a US server with a VPN, sign up for a HBO Max account.
Now, when House of Dragon comes, watch it on HBO Max, or catch up on Game of Thrones before that.
…And of course, you can sign back into your previous iCloud account after you have finished with that.
House of Dragon is one of the few Game of Thrones spin-offs, but HBO offers a lot more incredible content on a similar production level. It for sure doesn’t the most content in the world, but if there’s anything that people say about HBO, it’s the quality of shows that it delivers.
As to this guide, the steps shared apply to many other streaming services and platforms such as Paramount Plus.
Written by Michael Smolski.
Disclaimer: While PrivateVPN supports HBO Max, due to the nature of platforms like HBO having to take measures against VPN services, PrivateVPN is not able to guarantee non-stop support at all given times, and that the exact same steps will apply at all times. Thus we recommend you sign up for subscriptions on a monthly basis instead.