The second episode of season 8 of Game of Thrones has leaked hours ahead of its airtime. This marks the second leak for the popular HBO series since last week. In an unrelated incident, the final season’s premiere became available on DirecTV hours before it was meant to air.
Based on George R.R Martin’s popular A Song of Ice and Fire book series, Game of Thrones quickly became a cultural phenomenon after HBO began airing the show in 2011. Although Game of Thrones hewed closely to the source material during its earlier seasons, the series eventually outpaced Martin’s novels. The decision was made to wrap up the beloved show with a shortened 8th season, which premiered last Sunday. Before Game of Thrones returned, fans had waited almost two years to discover the fates of their favorite characters. With only six installments in the final season, some longer than an average episode, excitement has been at an all-time high. Last week’s premiere set new streaming and ratings records for both the series and the network. Even the show’s trailer set record-breaking numbers for HBO.
Reddit and Twitter users (via: The Wrap) were quick to point out that Season 8’s second episode became available on Amazon Prime in Germany well ahead of its planned time slot. The installment was uploaded to Openload, but was quickly removed. Anticipation for these episodes has reached fever pitch, so spoilers are already showing up across the internet.
Some Game of Thrones fans will do everything that they can to track down even the tiniest tidbit of information on what’s to come. There are plenty of theories, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have had their hands full trying to keep the real story under wraps. The show has had its fair share of leaks over the years and every year it seems as though more measures must be taken to prevent this classified information from getting out. The scripts have been known to vanish as soon as the actors finish shooting their scenes.
Fans have been endlessly dissecting the season 8 premiere, but despite this, most viewers would prefer to remain spoiler-free. Much of the fun here is obviously watching the story as it unfolds. Many viewers are heartbroken that Game of Thrones is ending and hope to make this journey last as long as possible. Of course, there are also those would prefer to find out who will sit on the Iron Throne immediately. Any fans who want future episodes to still surprise them ought to stay off of social media a few hours before new episodes air.
