President Frank Underwood took office early on Wednesday when Season Three of “House of Cards” briefly leaked on Netflix — more than two weeks ahead of its stated premiere date.
The red-hot serial featuring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright was not scheduled to debut until Feb. 27, but for about 20 minutes late Wednesday afternoon, 10 episodes of the new season were available on the streaming service before being deleted.
The “House of Cards” official Twitter account quickly posted that the episodes had been released by mistake, cheekily tweeting, “This is Washington. There’s always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27.”
A Netflix rep confirmed the error, saying in a statement, “Due to a technical glitch some Frank Underwood fans got a sneak peek. He’ll be back on Netflix on Feb 27. #nospoilers.”
The leak is especially odd because details about the new season of “House of Cards” are a closely guarded secret, with no plot synopses or new character descriptions provided to the press in the run-up to premieres.
“House of Cards” is set to pick up with Underwood (Spacey) taking over the US presidency after ruthlessly taking down the incumbent commander-in-chief at the end of last season — putting Underwood and his Lady Macbeth, Claire (Robin Wright), in a fight to stay on top.
The opening scene of Season 3 shows President Underwood sharing a special moment at his father’s grave.
The glossy political drama has been building buzz for its new season on the awards-show circuit, where Spacey picked up best actor honors at last month’s Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.