There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Supergirl since whispers of its possibility as a series emerged last fall. CBS eventually made a pilot and picked up the project to series, although it won’t premiere until November. Unfortunately, it looks as if the network is not going to be able to fully keep the first episode under wraps before then. Today, news broke that Supergirl’s pilot has leaked online, roughly six months before the drama is expected to actually hit the schedule.
Early this morning, just before 3 a.m. ET, copies appeared on the internet. At first, outlets noted the downloads came at a slow trickle, but by 9:30 a.m. ET, the episode had been downloaded more than 120,000 times. As the day goes on, that number is expected to grow. It should be noted that Supergirl isn’t the only pilot to leak this morning, although it is the most high-profile one. Torrent Freak is reporting that NBC pilot Crowded is also available online.
The news comes just a few weeks after HBO’s high-profile drama Game of Thrones dealt with its own leak. However, while that leak only featured DVD quality picture of the episodes, in Supergirl’s case, Variety is reporting that the episode that is rolling around does feature HD quality picture. It also reportedly does not feature any water marks, so it’s theoretically a pretty appealing download.
So far, we haven’t seen CBS react, but the network often sends out takedown notices. In addition, CBS could also simply release the Supergirl pilot early, to stem the pirates and keep the buzz around the series relatively strong. Networks like Starz often release first episodes in advance, so it wouldn’t be wholly unprecedented. We'll have to wait and see what tactic the network takes.
The leak comes just a week after CBS announced its fall schedule and released the first trailer for Supergirl, which will star Melissa Benoist as the wide-eyed Kara Danvers, who left her planet, Krypton, at a young age and is looking to do good on Earth as an adult. The jumbo first look at the series is more than 6 and a half minutes long, and gives us a pretty good idea of what the pilot will look like, regardless of the leak.
Supergirl is set to hit the schedule in November, and will air on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET, awkwardly in the same timeslot as Gotham. In the meantime, here’s what the network has planned for this summer.
