Only two days after the third season premiere of “Game of Thrones” reached a series high, HBO has quickly pulled the trigger and ordered a fourth season of ten episodes; which will debut in 2014.
“Game of Thrones” is based upon George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, with the third season adapting roughly the first half of the third novel, “A Storm of Swords;” with the fourth season to finish the adaptation of that book next year.
Last Sunday’s episode drew in 4.4 million viewers for its initial broadcast even against AMC’s powerhouse, “The Walking Dead.” Across all airings on Sunday, “Game of Thrones” reached 6.7 million viewers and it’s currently averaging 11.6 million viewers per episode across all platforms, making it one of the most popular series in HBO’s history.
Since the fourth and fifth novels of Martin’s series take place concurrently, it’s widely expected that “Game of Thrones” showrunners, David Benioff and Dan Weiss will take at least two seasons adapting that part of the story. Regarding the fear that Martin won’t have finished the next book in the series by then, the author recently told The Hollywood Reporter that “My dream chronology is that the books finish first, and I do have a considerable lead over them. It’s true that they’re moving faster than I am — the series has its own speed — but I don’t see us catching up for another three years or so, by which time another book will be out. That should give them another two seasons of material. And while I’m writing the last book, they’d be making those.”
“Game of Thrones” Season 3 continues this Sunday on HBO.
