Four Leaked Episodes Of Game Of Thrones Season 5 Surfaced Ahead Of Worldwide Premiere, Additional Two Episodes Released?

"Game of Thrones" season 5 leaked episodes were uploaded ahead of the April 13 season premiere on HBO. Reportedly, the first four episodes of the season were released ahead of their worldwide HBO screening, and have begun to flood torrent and streaming websites.

The first couple of episodes first surfaced at around 10 p.m. on Saturday and have caused a downloading frenzy online. According to The Daily Dot, a Reddit user reported that the first episode alone has more than 7,000 seeds already.

Meanwhile, according to Tech Crunch, 50,000 people downloaded the first episode within hours of it being posted online.

Reportedly, even "Game Of Thrones" episodes 5 and 6 have surfaced online as well on private servers.

According to The Verge, the leaked episodes are 480 p quality, and were most likely taken from early screeners that HBO used to conducted "Game Of Thrones" season 5 premiere shows.

HBO has since released a statement confirming that the episodes originated from early screeners. "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," HBO said. "We're actively assessing how this breach occurred."

Earlier this year, even the "Game of Thrones" season 5 trailer was leaked ahead of its planed release dates. The official trailer has since been posted too. 

The HBO show has held the distinction for being one of the most illegally downloaded shows on the Internet.  According to Tech Crunch, the first four seasons of "Game Of Thrones" were illegally downloaded more than 7 million times in the span of a month.

For its part, HBO has addressed this by making "Game of Thrones" accessible to those who don't have cable subscription. The cable channel teamed up with Apple, Cablevision, and Sling TV to make the show available even if viewers don't get HBO on their TV.