Game Of Thrones might have ended over a year ago, but it seems like the hit HBO series is still just as in demand as ever.
New data has revealed that the show, starring the likes of Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke, is the most pirated show during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lockdown has had us all indulging in plenty of TV binges, but it seems Game Of Thrones comes up trumps when it comes to unauthorised watching – beating the likes of Rick and Morty and The Walking Dead.
According to research by Parrot Analytics, Game Of Thrones was the number one pirated show, while Rick and Morty came in second and My Hero Academia placed third.
Other shows among the top 10 most-stolen series included Spongebob Squarepants, Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian found on Disney+ and The C.W series The Flash.
But, Game Of Thrones is the show to beat, with it hitting the top spot way before the pandemic had us all stocking up on our favourite series.
Entertainment Tonight reports that viewers have been hooked on Winterfell and Starks for years now, with it topping the most-pirated shows Top 10 in 2013 and every year since.
Game Of Thrones first hit screens in 2011 and ran for eight seasons, with its final series airing in May 2019.
And some would argue that the smash hit ended a little controversially, as fans were divided over its ending, where Jon Snow was banished after killing Daenerys Targaryen and Bran Stark was left sitting on the Iron throne.
To say some fans kicked off about how things wrapped up was probably a slight understatement and actually, some of the stars of the show weren’t here for it all.
One being Carice van Houten, who played Red Priestess Melisandre, who told Insider of the criticism: ‘The fact that some people were so disappointed is because everything before that was so good.
‘So it feels a bit ungrateful. You’ve had such great times and then yeah, you’re going to be disappointed because it’s not going to go exactly how you anticipated.
She said: ‘Of course, you’re going to have all sorts of criticisms and I just thought it was a sign of how good the show was.’
Way back when, before Game Of Thrones had first begun shooting, Carice was actually approached by bosses to play Cersei Lannister.
The actress was forced to turn it down to scheduling clashes, despite thinking it would have been a ‘great part’, and was later given Melisandre instead.
Carice thinks it ‘all turned out for the best’, though, as she told Vulture back in 2012: ‘Lena [Headey] couldn’t be a better Cersei. It makes sense, because they’re sort of the same wood, as we say.’
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