It seems winter wasn’t coming soon enough for some folks, as The Verge reports that the fourth episode of Game Of Thrones’ seventh season has leaked online. The episode, “The Spoils Of War,” was apparently posted in some Reddit thread via Google Drive, in what The Verge describes as “a low-quality format,” as if that matters to anyone on Reddit. But the publication did have early access to the episode, and has confirmed that what went up is legit—there was even a “for internal viewing only” watermark.
HBO was the victim of a hack that seems to be growing in proportion every day, but this leak was unrelated, according to The Verge’s sources. All those hackers have done is post season seven scripts online, though that’s probably of little comfort to the showrunners and spoiler averse. Someone at distribution partner Star India is thought to be responsible for the episode’s ”early” airing.
This is the third such Game Of Thrones leak; previously, an episode from season six was dumped on the internet, while four episodes from season five made their way to the internet ahead of their broadcast in 2015. HBO doesn’t offer screeners anymore for this reason, so thanks a lot, guys.