A rep for ATandT, which owns the streaming service, has responded about the four-hour early premiere of the highly-anticipated season, saying, 'Apparently our system was as excited as we are for 'Game of Thrones' tonight.'
- Apr 15, 2019
AceShowbiz - It seems like winter is coming earlier than it has to. Fans have been anticipating season 8 of "Game of Thrones" which is set to arrive on HBO at 9 P.M. However, it turns out that fans can watch the first episode of the final season of the hit HBO series four hours earlier on DirecTV.
According to multiple reports, the premiere episode was available to stream for its subscribers on the streaming service at 5 P.M. The customers of DirecTV, which is owned by AT&T and includes HBO channels at a premium rate, got a notification at 5 P.M., letting them know that the full first episode of the eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" was available. The runtime for the episode is said to be an hour and five minutes.
Four hours early? I’ll take it pic.twitter.com/upp3cWrc11
— Cody Keenan (@codykeenan) April 14, 2019
Fans definitely freaked out over the early premiere. "So… DirecTV Now lets you watch Game of Thrones already…," one fan tweeted. "So PSA. Tonight’s #GamesOfThrones premiere dropped hours and hours early on Direct TV so BE CAREFUL ONLINE FOR TWITTER IS DARK AND FULL OF SPOILERS," added another user.
So… DirecTV Now lets you watch Game of Thrones already…
— Alex Sikora (@axxl) April 14, 2019
So PSA. Tonight's #GamesOfThrones premiere dropped hours and hours early on Direct TV so BE CAREFUL ONLINE FOR TWITTER IS DARK AND FULL OF SPOILERS.
— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) April 14, 2019
Another fan wrote, "So this is season 8. I think @directvnow screwed up. But I get to watch @GameOfThrones 3 hours early," alongside a photo of his TV playing the first episode of the final season.
So this is season 8. I think @directvnow screwed up. But I get to watch @GameOfThrones 3 hours early. pic.twitter.com/j13hJL1its
— Coach Carle (@Coach_Carle) April 14, 2019
A rep for AT&T had responded about the glitch, "Apparently our system was as excited as we are for 'Game of Thrones' tonight and gave a few DirecTV Now customers early access to the episode by mistake," the representative shared. "When we became aware of the error, we immediately fixed it and we look forward to tuning in this evening."
HBO, meanwhile, has yet to comment on the matter.
The final episode is dubbed the biggest season of "Game of Thrones" as it will feature the biggest war in the show's history between the living and the dead. The season is also set to be featuring many deaths. "There's a lot of death this year," Maisie Williams previously revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
The Arya Stark depicter also added that it had so many references to its first season. "After reading the scripts I went back and watched season 1 again because so much of it refers back to that season," Maisie explained. "There are so many scenes that will look similar. And also I watched just to remind myself of the arc I've taken already. I wanted Arya to go full circle and try for some kind of normalcy like when she was younger."
The first episode of "Game of Thrones" season 8 is currently airing on HBO.
