5 TV & Movie Leaks That Were Completely Embarrassing

The gates of King's Landing were breached earlier than expected when the Season 2 finale of "House of the Dragon” leaked online, almost a full week before its intended air date. For many fans of the series, the pirated preview spoiled the dragon-tinted bit of destruction and gasp-worthy backstabbing that was headed our way. As tough as security might be at House HBO, though, shows and films slipping out too soon before their release date does happen from time to time. This sort of situation is nothing new, and the fallout from this type of ordeal can either be a blessing or cause critical damage to the project before it's officially let loose upon the world.

From X-Men to extra-terrestrials, all manner of big and small screen outings have suffered embarrassing leaks at the hands of those nefarious pirates, who will have undoubtedly impacted the viewership the studios were hoping to gain from the affected projects' official premiere. Some have occurred at the hands of outside agents, whereas other leaks have come from inside the industry itself, often from the most unsurprising of places. Regardless of the source of the action, though, the consequences for the leakers have varied from a slap on the wrist to well-earned jail time — and some egg on the face of those affected.

Comic book movie fans thought they'd struck gold early when a version of prequel spin-off "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" leaked online on April Fool's Day, a whole month before Hugh Jackman's first solo stint as Logan hit theaters on April 29, 2009. Things reached facepalm-worthy levels, though, when it became clear that the version that snikt-ed through the cracks was unfinished, complete with wirework coming in from every angle and more green screen than if the Hulk had made a cameo. To make matters worse, the film ended up being an absolute dumpster fire even after it had been properly dressed up.

It was an issue that Jackman recently discussed during the promotion for "Wolverine & Deadpool." The star brought up the fumble on "Hot Ones" when the topic of the "leaked" test footage of "Deadpool" came up. The man behind Wolverine compared notes, saying, "I can give the example of a bad leak — 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine.' ... It was leaked maybe a week before we came out, and I think ... I just remember someone saying — I think it's up to 10 million people had seen it before it'd come out. That's a bad leak."

He's not wrong, bub. The whole thing cost a Fox employee who had reviewed the print their job, and the confirmed leaker ended up serving prison time as a result. Don't mess with the Wolverine, folks.

No one knew just how much of a horror show the 2016 version of "The Mummy" would turn out to be. That said, we maybe should've had an idea when, prior to the movie itself killing a franchise before it even began (RIP, Dark Universe), a rough cut of the film's trailer that was missing all of its music and half its sound appeared online for the internet to collectively point and laugh at.

While some of the audio lands where it needs to, the sound is noticeably absent when the plane flies through a flock of birds to fatal effect and when Cruise is spinning around in the cargo bay with Annabelle Wallis. The highlight, though, is hearing Cruise's scream on la oop at one point, right before he wakes up in a morgue. It's a hilariously awkward scene that becomes a special kind of eerie when there's nothing else being heard. Cruise has had some bad stunt fumbles in the past, but this one might have been the worst.

This big slip led to the final trailer being released shortly after, but that wasn't enough to redeem the film in time for its release. Like the teaser trailer, the film did something absolutely unheard of and killed any chances of a sequel to a Tom Cruise movie, as well as the spin-offs that were to be set in the same universe. All together, now: "Aargh! Aargh!"

At a time when J.J. Abrams projects were shrouded in mystery, audiences were eager to learn about the secret that was set to descend on a small Amblin-esque town in "Super 8." Well, they got their wish, but not how they expected; weeks before the film hit theaters, the film found its way to the masses thanks to a most unexpected culprit. A preview had been sent to shock jock Howard Stern, and his screener somehow found its way online. 

Stern was adamant the leak didn't come from him at the time the film got out. Speaking on his show, the DJ (via Entertainment Weekly) told his listeners, "I hate to have my name associated with anything like this. I'm so paranoid about it that I literally watch [the screeners], I put it back in my bag and I take it [back]." Stern added that he ran a tight ship and that "Nobody gets [my screeners]. Nobody can see. I bring it right back ... I don't pass it around to anyone. Ever."

The true source of the leak was never discovered, but in this case, it thankfully didn't have that much of an impact on "Super 8" when it was properly released. Met with a welcome reception from critics and earning $260 million on a $50 million budget, Abrams' alien movie didn't lose contact in the end.

What's more embarrassing than the first two episodes of a show trickling onto the internet? The final two episodes of the same season sharing the same fate a few weeks later. That's exactly what blood-lusting forensic technician Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) had to endure when his show was in its prime. Downloadable a whole two months before Dexter's return, Season 2's opening pair of episodes appeared on file sharing services in 2007, muting fan anticipation for the hit series' sophomore year. The damage didn't stop there, though; just when the leaks were thought to have been plugged, the season's final two episodes magically appeared as well, if you knew where to look.

While Dexter kept a low profile on the show, he was found out once again two years later when the Season 4 premiere also went live a month before it was supposed to. Then, of course, there was the Season 8 finale, which didn't get leaked — but which fans wish never got released at all. What? You didn't like it either.

"House of the Dragon's" finale leak isn't the first time the Seven Kingdom has fallen victim to piracy. Back in 2011, "Game of Thrones" Season 5 hit a bit of a snag when its first four episodes found their way online ahead of their premiere date. The leak to what is considered one of the best seasons of "GoT" to ever air happened only a day before its return to television screens, resulting in a wild 32 million downloaders nabbing the unofficial preview and getting a lengthy glimpse of Westoros' drama before the cable network had intended.

The leak was revealed to have come from screeners that had been sent out to the press, and HBO responded to the situation with the following statement: "Sadly, it seems the leaked four episodes of the upcoming season of Game of Thrones originated from within a group approved by HBO to receive them. We're actively assessing how this breach occurred."

Unfortunately, history repeated itself on a number of other occasions, too, but these were more of the network's error than anything nefarious. Season 7, Episodes 6 and 8, both turned up online, killing the anticipation for the show's weekly reveals. This one came courtesy of HBO's Indian distributors and resulted in four arrests. HBO Spain also messed up, releasing an episode from the same season early to its subscribers — which, of course, also ended up online. Seven hells, what a mess.