'House of Cards' Season 3: Netflix Leaks Series Early, Episode Summaries Revealed
The third season of "House of Cards" was not supposed to debut until Feb. 27, however, for 20 minutes on Wednesday, February 10, all upcoming episodes of the series were accidentally released by Netflix. A technical glitch was blamed for the incident. The episodes were leaked at around 4 p.m. EST.
The leak was well publicized, especially on social media, where fans immediately took to Twitter to announce that the first 10 of the show's 13 episodes were currently available.
Netflix released a statement soon after the incident, which reads: "Due to a technical glitch some Frank Underwood fans got a sneak peek. He'll be back on Netflix on Feb. 27."
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The show's Twitter account made light of the situation and tweeted, "This is Washington. There's always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27."
Meanwhile, there are reports saying that the leak was not an accident, but it was allegedly a clever marketing ploy. Director Rod Blackhurst tweeted, "You think Netflix accidentally leaked season 3 of House of Cards? That's called marketing. Now you're all talking about it. They win."
An author at the Crushable wrote, "I think it's pretty [expletive] clear to anyone who wasn't born yesterday that this was an intentional move to drum up publicity."
A rep from Netflix denied that the leak was a marketing ploy and maintained that it was a result of technical difficulties.
In other news, Huffington Post was able to get descriptions of the first 10 episodes before they were taken down. Here's what fans can expect from season 3 of 'House of Cards'"
1. "A rocky start for the Underwood Presidency. Frank wants to introduce an ambitious jobs program, while Claire sets her sights on the United Nations."
2. "Claire's UN bid runs into trouble. Frank fights off mutiny with a bold address to the country."
3. "The Russian president's state visit becomes a cold war of wills, and some punks heat things up."
4. "Claire bypasses Russia at the U.N. Frank tries to outmaneuver a potential challenger and ends up face to face with a higher power."
5. "Frank declares war on Congress to jump-start his jobs program. Claire spars with the Russian Ambassador."
6. "Frank and Claire travel to Moscow to negotiate the return of imprisoned U.S. citizen. Claire takes a stand that jeopardizes their plans."
7. "The damage is done and the Underwoods must repair it. But deep wounds don't heal fast, and sometimes not at all."
8. "A hurricane endangers more than just the entire East Coast and Frank must make a difficult choice."
9. "The Jordan Valley erupts in chaos just as Frank's campaign is picking up steam. Claire gets disturbing intel and counsels him."
10. " Frank needs to deal with Petrov one on one while Claire tries to preserve the peace-keeping mission. Sacrifices must be made."
"House of Cards" returns on Feb. 27.
