Game Of Thrones leaks will not hurt ratings, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau says

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The Jaime Lannister actor believes true fans will stay away from any leaked episodes and scripts.

Game Of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has said ratings will not be damaged by leaked episodes as well as spoilers released after the HBO hack.

The Jaime Lannister actor also said he believes most true fans will stay away from compromised information.

So far, scripts have been released after a hacker breached HBO’s computer network and, in a separate incident, an episode of the current season was published online before its air date.

“There were always going to be people who want to find out more but I think it’s just a tiny, tiny fraction of the people who love the show,” Coster-Waldau told the Press Association in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

“Why would you want to spoil it for yourself?

“We saw it last week, there was an episode leaked, episode four was leaked, that didn’t hurt the ratings at all.”

Indian police reportedly arrested four former and current employees of Prime Focus Technology, a Mumbai-based company that stores the series for an Indian network, over the leak of episode four of the current season.

Separately, HBO has been under attack from a group of hackers who said they have stolen 1.5TB of data and have been trickling out the stolen information over several weeks.
The leaks have included scripts, internal documents and emails from an executive so far and it is feared more will follow.

Unreleased episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which makes its much-anticipated return in October, and other shows have been dumped online, according to reports.

HBO said it is not in contact with the group and conceded further “bits and pieces” of stolen information may follow to generate “media attention”.

“That’s a game we’re not going to participate in,” a statement added.

“Obviously, no company wants their proprietary information stolen and released on the internet.”

Danish actor Coster-Waldau, 47, discussed the leaks from the red carpet of the Los Angeles premiere of his latest film, Shot Caller.

He said he hopes the film, where he plays a businessman who becomes a hardened criminal after being jailed over a drink-driving offence that kills a friend, sparks debate over prison reform.