HBO RENEWS GAME OF THRONES FOR FOURTH SEASON
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Season Three Soars To Highest Viewership Yet
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LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2013 – HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fourth season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.
Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning series launched its ten-episode third season Sunday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time.
Among the early critical praise for the third season, the Hollywood Reporter called GAME OF THRONES “addictive and outstanding,” while Newsday termed the series “superb,” awarding the show an A+. The Chicago Tribune hailed the show as “spellbinding” and the Washington Post described it as “masterful.”
According to early data, GAME OF THRONES’ season three premiere March 31 on HBO topped the series’ highs, with record viewership for both the 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) airing and gross audience across the three plays. At 9:00 p.m., it averaged 4.4 million viewers, outperforming (+4%) the previous high of 4.2 million viewers from last season’s finale. GAMES OF THRONES improved 13% in comparison to last season’s premiere of 3.9 million viewers. Across the three plays for the night, 6.7 million viewers tuned in, surpassing last season’s debut night of 6.3 million viewers by 7%. Last season, GAME OF THRONES had an average gross audience (HBO linear plays + HBO On Demand/HBO GO + DVR) of 11.6 million viewers.
For more on the series, visit facebook.com/GameOfThrones and twitter.com @GameOfThrones #GameOfThrones.
Season three credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor; produced by Chris Newman, Greg Spence.
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Season Three Soars To Highest Viewership Yet
--------
LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2013 – HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fourth season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.
Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The Emmy®- and Golden Globe-winning series launched its ten-episode third season Sunday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time.
Among the early critical praise for the third season, the Hollywood Reporter called GAME OF THRONES “addictive and outstanding,” while Newsday termed the series “superb,” awarding the show an A+. The Chicago Tribune hailed the show as “spellbinding” and the Washington Post described it as “masterful.”
According to early data, GAME OF THRONES’ season three premiere March 31 on HBO topped the series’ highs, with record viewership for both the 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) airing and gross audience across the three plays. At 9:00 p.m., it averaged 4.4 million viewers, outperforming (+4%) the previous high of 4.2 million viewers from last season’s finale. GAMES OF THRONES improved 13% in comparison to last season’s premiere of 3.9 million viewers. Across the three plays for the night, 6.7 million viewers tuned in, surpassing last season’s debut night of 6.3 million viewers by 7%. Last season, GAME OF THRONES had an average gross audience (HBO linear plays + HBO On Demand/HBO GO + DVR) of 11.6 million viewers.
For more on the series, visit facebook.com/GameOfThrones and twitter.com @GameOfThrones #GameOfThrones.
Season three credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor; produced by Chris Newman, Greg Spence.
Excellent
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked! Shocked I tell ya! /sarc
ReplyDeleteThis is really great not that I had much doubt but still.
ReplyDeleteMost excellent if entirely predictable news, no doubt they have begun work already.
ReplyDeleteOh Yay! Thank You HBO!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHa!Excellent!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna need season 4 to cheer me up after season 3...
"They would never CANCEL Game of Thrones! It's a crossover hit. It's not just for fantasy enthusiasts, they're telling human stories in a fantasy world" Ben Wyatt called it y'all ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat! Now, what confuses me is that the producers said something about hoping for 8 seasons. What strikes me as a problem is: one, the show catching up, (theres no way A Dream of Spring is finished before season 8) and two, the producers can't possibly know how many seasons are needed to cover both book 6 and 7.
ReplyDeleteI vouche for 10 seasons!
Nice to have confirmation. I look forward to the epic events of the second half of a Storm of Swords!
ReplyDeleteGeorge Martin said it himself that by the time show catches up with Dance of Dragons he believes he'll have 6th book out and be preparing for 7th. And if by some chance show catches up with books the producers know what Martins plan for the end is.
ReplyDeleteNow book 4 should be 2 seasons maybe and book 5 will be 2 seasons for sure so Martin has around 4 years to dish out book 6 should be enough time
Well, if the show "spoils" the ending for book fans, there may be a problem as well. :P I think book 4 and book 5 may cover a season each, maybe even 1 season for both books (or 1.5).
ReplyDeleteabout time actually
ReplyDeleteprobably when things really hit the fan
ReplyDeleteThat's fast
ReplyDeleteYessssssssssss! I'm SO happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Season 4 will be amazing :) This show is really a masterpiece, just like the books!!!
ReplyDeleteIn a move that nobody saw coming! ;)
ReplyDeleteBlood and Gold
ReplyDeleteHuzzah!
ReplyDeleteNow, if they knew before hand why couldn't they just announce it earlier?! XD
Great news indeed...
Now I really need to finalize the casting page though.... sigh.
Heigh-ho. Heigh-ho. ......
Good news. I never had any doubts, but it is still good to get it confirmed. Season 4 is gonna be an excellent year. So many good stories.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will get 4 seasons out of Book IV: A Feast for Crows and Book V: A Dance with Dragons.
ReplyDeleteSince both cover the same chronology but different regions and characters they will be combined into one combined resource pool and then split into what most likely will be 2 seasons, maybe 3 seasons at most. Some people think they can be combined into a single season seeing as some of the material will be inserted into Season 4 next year.
Hopefully The Winds of Winter will be long enough , and event-filled enough, to make two complete seasons from the book and we will still have that 6-year cushion.
Personally, I'm not convinced that the series will end in 2 books. GRRM has expanded it so many times now , from 3 books to 5 and now 7.... Of course I do not know what GRRM has planned, but to me it feels like it will take one book to set everyone on their final paths, one book to set up the conclusion and then a final book.
Who knows, maybe GRRM will return to his more linear fast-paced story and 2 books will cover it?
You are so right though!
How much fun will it be to marathon watch 6 or 7 seasons (or more) before the final season airs! WOW!
Ha! XD
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been waiting for that... get to it! ;)
ReplyDeleteHonestly I got an early start on it and could post it today if I wanted, but....
ReplyDeleteI'm having a hard time trying to figure out EXACTLY who will be cast. How much of the Kingsmoot gets in assuming it gets in at all. Will they cast Dorne as Spanish or Middle Eastern? Will we get 2 adult Sand Snakes, 3, or all 4? Will they combine Meryn Trant with the Kettleblacks and Boros Blount (or could Bronn possibly take a Kettleblack role?) or will we get a second or third named Kingsguard. etc... etc...
So many questions this time around in my mind...
I'm hoping now that the renewal notice is out that D&D will leak some of their plans for Season 4.
I didn't mean to pressure you and I was partly joking! :)
ReplyDeleteThough with the renewal, I agree, there will surely be more tidbits released/leaked. If not speculation by fans of why could fit which role. And I'm sorry but most of the names you mentioned went over my head because I haven't read the books (yet). ;)
But you're article last year (and it's subsequent updates) were exciting to read! :)
Finally! Thank you HBO! Now that would be great to have a renewal for a few seasons... let's just say 10 seasons and a movie?
ReplyDeleteHa XD
ReplyDeleteNo worries... and thanks.
Not a surprise, but glad to have such a quick announcement! :D
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about all that a few days ago and came up with a pretty good idea. Since Book Three was divided in half, I think maybe Book Five can be chopped into three parts, except Part 1 is mixed with Book Four (since they share the chronology), then we get Part 2 of Book Five as a season and Part 3 as another. I'm still half-way through Book Three so I'm not sure the story can be divided like that.
ReplyDeleteThat could definitely work....
ReplyDeleteIt all really depends on how they want to do it I guess.
It sounds too simple, but if D&D want to make the 2 books one season they can. If they want to put about half of each book in a season they can make it two seasons easily, and of course if they want to expand some stories they make it more than 2 seasons IMO. I know some people would argue that possibility since they feel books IV and V are too slow and meandering to make even 2 seasons let alone 3.
A lot of traveling means they can shorten or lengthen arcs easily without doing too much damage to the over all narrative. As long as the right people end up in the right places at the right time at the end.... There is a lot of wiggle room.
Honestly. I just have no idea what they will do after next year. Will they push the series forward faster and write their own ending before GRRM's final book/s come out, or will they deliberately play it out a bit slower than the books to allow time for GRRM to finish?
Personally, I think that the way the series is going, HBO would enjoy the series to last for 8 or so years.... Assuming the costs don't get too bad. I think cutting regions and arcs makes little sense in that case.
Guess we need to wait and see! XD
I should be thanking you! Great articles! So thanks! :) ;)
ReplyDeleteLet's wait and see! The bigger issue, in my opinion, is whether or not fans would be willing to stick around for a ten season run. True Blood, for example, is still at season six and viewers are dropping like crazy.
ReplyDelete