House of Cards season 3: Netflix accidentally sets series live weeks before release date revealing big spoilers

Episodes were pulled, but synopses and images for each are now out there

(Netflix)

House of Cards fans were briefly overjoyed yesterday when the entirety of season 3 popped up on Netflix more than two weeks before it was due to drop on the streaming service.

There was a little embarrassment at Netflix, which later tweeted: "This is Washington. There's always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27."

*Spoilers ahead*

While the window in which the episodes were up was so small that it doesn't seem like anyone actually got to view them fully, it does mean synopses for each episode and a bunch of new thumbnails are now out there, which you can view in the grab below:

Particularly impatient fans are already scrabbling to find the episodes on torrent sites, though it looks like Netflix managed to remove the season before it was ripped and pirated.

According to those who briefly managed to fire up episode one, it opens with a shot of an intersection.

Showrunner Beau Willimon made light of the leak, tweeting: "Well folks, when Frank Underwood wants to tease...he doesn't fuck around."

Amid suggestion that the leak was a publicity stunt, he later joked on the House of Cards subreddit: "Was it us or North Korea? YOU decide..."

House of Cards season 3 will be released proper on February 27.