An Iranian hacker who allegedly stole scripts for the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones,” and then attempted to blackmailed the premium cable network for a nearly $6 million ransom, was indicted Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.

Behzad Mesri, an Iranian national alleged to have previously worked as a hacker for the military, was charged in United States v. Mesri, 17-cr-689, with wire fraud, computer hacking, and aggravated identity theft, among other charges.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement that, though Mesri has not been arrested, “he will forever have to look over his shoulder until he is made to face justice.”

“American ingenuity and creativity is to be cultivated and celebrated—not hacked, stolen and held for ransom,” Kim said. “For hackers who test our resolve in protecting our intellectual property—even those hiding behind keyboards in countries far away—eventually, winter will come.”

According to the indictment, Mesri began casing HBO's computer network in May 2017, and was eventually able to gain access to the company's servers. Over the course of months, Mesri allegedly stole unaired episodes of shows on the network, including “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Deuce.” He was also able to obtain scripts and plot summaries for “Game of Thrones” and other programming, the government alleges.

Beginning in late July, prosecutors allege Mesri began his attempts to extort HBO. In a series of anonymous emails, Mersi is said to have alerted the company to 1.5 terabytes of stolen information and a threat to release the material unless HBO ultimately paid $6 million in ransom money via the digital currency bitcoin.

One of the emails concluded with an image of the Night King, the principal antagonist in “Game of Thrones,” and the message, “Good luck to HBO.”

When the company didn't pay, Mersi began releasing some of the data online in July and August, according to the indictment, promoting the leak to members of the media and using a Twitter account to announce the release of leaks.

Mersi was without counsel in the United States, according to the U.S. attorney's office.