The fourth episode of Game of Thrones’s seventh season airs on Sunday, but hackers who infiltrated HBO’s systems earlier in the week have leaked the entire episode in full — although there are reports that the leak is actually unrelated to the big hack.
The leaked episode, “The Spoils of War,” made the rounds on the spoiler-embracing Reddit community r/freefolk on Friday morning. Initially, a post on the subreddit linked to a Google Drive where the entire full episode could be viewed, but the page was removed for violating Google’s terms of service in a major way. Because nothing can really be erased from the internet, although the episode is still circulating around shady parts of the web and spoilers abound in forums.
Curiously, Entertainment Weekly reports that an HBO insider claims that the leak is not part of the Monday hack. The episode bears a watermark for Star India, HBO’s distributor of content in India. Star India gave EW a statement confirming “the compromise of Episode 4 of Game of Thrones Season 7,” adding that they had started a forensic investigation into the leak and were pursuing legal action.
It’s possible that Star India was somehow part of the larger HBO hack, but it’s likely a separate issue. HBO’s having an especially bad week on two unrelated fronts.
The hackers (or hacker) who attacked HBO allegedly stole 1.5 terabytes of data, which just to put into perspective, is seven times more data than hackers got in the infamous Sony hack. While a leaked Game of Thrones episode (along with leaked episodes of other, less popular HBO shows) is a big deal for fans, the hack could potentially have much more serious repercussions. The hackers reportedly obtained lots of personal data about HBO employees, including financial and medical information. Some of this sensitive material has reportedly already been leaked.
Season 7 Episode 4 of Game of Thrones will have its legitimate premiere on HBO on Sunday, August 6 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
