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New 'Game of Thrones' episodes leak online

Patrick Ryan
USA TODAY
Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in a scene from Season 4 of HBO's "Game of Thrones." The Season 5 premiere airs on Sunday.

The only things more frightening than White Walkers and a Red Wedding? A slew of leaked Game of Thrones episodes the day of its Season 5 premiere.

Although many fans are surely rejoicing, HBO is faced with the nightmarish situation of the first four episodes of Thrones' 10-episode fifth season making their way online, the cable network confirmed.

HBO issued a statement to USA TODAY, writing, "Sadly, it seems the leaked four episodes of the upcoming season of Game of Thrones originated from within a group approved by HBO to receive them. We're actively assessing how this breach occurred."

The leaked episodes first materialized on the private torrent tracked ITP, before finding their way to sites such as The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and RARBG, according to the Daily Beast. The episodes, which appear to be from review copies sent to the press, have since been downloaded several hundred thousand times, the New York Times says.

Last week, the network launched its HBO Now standalone service, which is only available through Apple and Optimum Online for the time being. A monthly subscription costs $14.99 and gives subscribers full access to HBO programming.

Thrones has been the most pirated show on the Internet for three consecutive years, with more than 8 million downloads of last year's Season 4 finale alone, according to TorrentFreak.com.

Season 5 begins on HBO Sunday at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

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