Game of Thrones leak: First four episodes of season five arrive ahead of HBO premiere

The HBO series is repeatedly the most pirated TV show in the world

Daenerys in the new Game of Thrones season 5 trailer

Game of Thrones fans fearing spoilers, we bring bad news, as the first four episodes of season five have been leaked ahead of tonight’s premiere.

The return of the hit HBO drama, based on George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, has been hotly-awaited for months but now, the excitement of the big reveal seems to have been tainted.

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Mashable reports that pirate versions of unseen episodes are appearing on Torrent sites, believed to have been ripped from press and editorial DVDS with their digital watermarks blurred out.

Game of Thrones producer Greg Spence recently said he was worried about the potential for leaks as the cast is “looping all over the world, sending files back and forth”.

“The files are watermarked and editors have to confirm in writing that they’ve deleted them,” he told the Denver Post just last week.

Game of Thrones, which continues to be the most pirated show in the world, was illegally downloaded more than 7 million times from February to April 2015, in comparison with 4.9 million downloads in the same period in 2014.

The fantasy series has been pirated almost 37,000 times during the first week of April in the US in the run up to the season five premiere.

The first episode of Game of Thrones season five airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic at 9pm tomorrow, Monday 13 April.