The highly anticipated third season of House of Cards has been leaked two weeks ahead of its scheduled release. For 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon America got a glimpse of life under the iron fist of Francis Underwood.
But as news spread the series was pulled almost as quickly as the show’s Machiavellian lead can destroy a political career. Netflix denies that the leak was a marketing ploy, telling Newsbeat it was down to a “technical glitch.”
On Wednesday night eagle eyed Netflix viewers in America could watch the series online for just under half an hour. Although the mistake was sorted out quickly, some fans on Twitter said they were able to keep streaming episodes they had begun watching before they were removed.
The series stars Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, a ruthless politician on a power trip to get to the top of American politics.
House of Cards is a new version of a series by the same name originally screened by the BBC in 1990, based on the novel by Michael Dobbs.