Well that was quick. Just two after its series premiere, HBO has gone ahead and renewed fantasy series Game of Thrones for a second season. The next season will bow next year (a specific timeline has not been worked out yet), and it will be based on George R.R. Martin’s next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Clash of Kings.
Michael Lombardo, president of HBO: “We are delighted by the way David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have brought George R.R. Martin’s amazing book series to the screen, and thrilled by the support of the media and our viewers. This is the continuation of an exciting creative partnership.”
No matter how the show did in the ratings it was destined to return for at least second season. Adapting Martin’s vast world of Westeros is a huge undertaking, there’s no way it all would have been squandered after just one hack at it. It did, however, fare decently in the ratings. 2.2 million viewers tuned into the 9PM premiere; for comparison’s sake this is down 54% from the Boardwalk Empire premiere which drew 4.8 million viewers in September. HBO was smart to air the premiere in three time-slots and across their various channels Sunday night. They picked up an additional 1.2 million and 800,000 viewers for the second and third telecasts, respectively. All together, a solid 4.2 million people watched the Game of Thrones premiere that night, and we’ll have to wait and see how these numbers hold up come next Sunday. Whatever the case, fans of the book series can rejoice in knowing that so much more is in the works.
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9PM on HBO.