For nearly 30 glorious minutes on Wednesday afternoon, the third season of Netflix’s House of Cards appeared online two weeks before its scheduled release.
Nearly as soon as people began to share the news on Twitter – and possibly drum up fake illnesses to stay home for binge watching on Thursday – Netflix yanked the highly anticipated episodes.
ALERT: "House of Cards" briefly appeared on Netflix for at least 25 minutes; it has since been pulled from the site. pic.twitter.com/ldCc3tyhGq
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) February 11, 2015
For about half an hour, season 3 was available, just like seasons 1 and 2, as a viewable option – just below a House of Cards landing page that says “Watch Season 3 on February 27.”
The entire season was listed with episode titles and descriptions. Chapter 27, the season premiere, begins with a shot of an intersection. The second episode was also playable and included a meeting of Frank Underwood with his advisers. When a Guardian reporter went back from that page to try for the season finale, all was lost.
“Due to a technical glitch some Frank Underwood fans got a sneak peak,” a Netflix spokesman told the Guardian, providing a link to the House of Cards Twitter account which jokingly acknowledged the error.
This is Washington. There's always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27.
— House of Cards (@HouseofCards) February 11, 2015
The show’s writer and producer, Beau Willimon, chimed in as well:
Well folks, when Frank Underwood wants to tease...he doesn't fuck around. @HouseofCards @netflix pic.twitter.com/L97jujrWOa
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) February 11, 2015
