Fans of the megabit HBO series, Game of Thrones, can rejoice! The fantasy drama has been renewed for another two seasons. The show returned with it’s fourth season this past Sunday, making the newly added seasons the show’s fifth and sixth, respectively.
The show’s April 6 season premiere was record-breaking, leading to the renewal news. 6.6. million viewers gathered Sunday to watch the Westeros gang return to waging war, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. Those numbers made the premiere HBO’s most-watched program since The Sopranos’ series finale in 2007. Two replays of the Thrones episode later that night continued upping the night’s tally to 8.2 million viewers.
By comparison, GoT‘s Season Three opened to 4.4 million viewers and eventually peaked at 5.5 million with the season’s sixth episode. Some might expect that the Red Wedding would have been a record high for viewers, but it was not. Most likely because fans and viewers did not know in advance about the jaw-breaking storyline, they way the know about a show’s premiere or finale, leading them to gather around the television screen. GoT‘s Season Three finale went on to deliver 5.4 million viewers.
“Game of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other,” said Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming, in a statement. “David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with their talented collaborators, continue to surpass themselves, and we look forward to more of their dazzling storytelling.”
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
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