Netflix screwed up. The streaming video service just released 10 episodes of season three of its hit series House of Cards to all subscribers in the United States. The new season is slated for a Feb. 27 release. Today is not Feb. 27.
There was some speculation that the mistake was intentional, intended to gin up interest in the show, which had a very strong first season but a lackluster second. That might be too cynical even for the show’s main character, the devious Frank Underwood.
“Due to a technical glitch some Frank Underwood fans got a sneak peak,” Netflix said in a statement. “He’ll be back on Netflix on Feb. 27.”
The Twitter account for House of Cards seemed to take it in stride:
As of 4:40pm Eastern Time, Netflix had removed the episodes—but not before Quartz took a few screenshots. Warning: The last one includes photos and general plot descriptions of a few episodes.
