‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7’s Fourth Episode Leaks, But Not By Hackers?
Well, if there wasn’t too concern with HBO’s recent hack leaking material early before, there is now. Reports indicate Game of Thrones Season 7’s fourth episode, “The Spoils of War,” has officially made its way online.
The initial leak saw only the script for Sunday’s episode surface, though the hackers purportedly responsible threatened additional leaks in the coming weeks. According to Mashable, pirated copies of “The Spoils of War” (notably Season 7’s shortest episode) appeared on the Reddit site r/FreeFolk, with posts calling the leak “a gift from Pakistan.”
Intriguingly, Entertainment Weekly reports HBO’s claim that the leaked episode did not stem from Monday’s hack, as the video contains a watermark from Star India, one of the network’s international partners. The timing is certainly suspicious, but HBO notes that this has also happened with other international distributors in the past.
The HBO hack was said to have stolen 1.5 terabytes of data, seven times that of the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, but perhaps not employee emails. The first batch included a script for “The Spoils of War,” along with Ballers and Room 104 episodes, though subsequent reports downplayed the significance of pirated material.
Still no motive has been obtained for the hack, nor demands made public to stop the leaks. We’ll see if the group provides any context to their actions, but do HBO a favor and watch Game of Thrones as you would on Sundays.