This post contains spoilers for season 3 of House of Cards.
We all have Feb. 27 seared into our brains as the season 3 premiere of House of Cards, but on Wednesday afternoon, a monkey wrench was thrown in there. That sound you heard on Twitter was everyone Fred Flintstone-ing their way to Netflix to see if it was true.The show doesn't appear on my main page when I go to Netflix, but a search pulls up season 3, and the 10 episodes are labeled as chapters, as in previous seasons. In the first episode, we see a presidential motorcade make its way to a cemetery, as President Frank Underwood visits the grave of his father. "You have to be a little human when you're the president," he says to the camera, before doing something very awful. Classic Frank!
Is this really a "leak," or does Netflix know exactly what it's doing going into Valentine's Day weekend? That's when season 2 debuted, after all.
We've reached out to Netflix for comment and will update if and when we hear back. CNBC's Julia Boorstin says Netflix told her there was a "bug in the system." Many people said their stream stopped working, but mine was still going 10 minutes into episode 1.[Mr. Burns voice] Riiiigght.
Update 4:43pm CT, Feb. 11: Via email, a Netflix rep responded, "Due to a technical glitch some Frank Underwood fans got a sneak peak. He'll be back on Netflix on Feb 27. #nospoilers"
Screengrab via Netflix