This shouldn't come as much of a surprise after last weekend's record ratings, but HBO has now officially renewed Game of Thrones for a third season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. So far, this season has had a 53 percent gain in viewership, and there was only a minuscule 3 percent drop from last week's season premiere to this Sunday's new episode.
“Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss raised our expectations for the second season -- and then surpassed them,” said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. “We are thrilled by all the viewer and media support we’ve received for the series, and can’t wait to see what Dan and David have in store for next season.”
A third season of the show will contain 10 episodes, much like the first two seasons of the show; however, it won't directly adapt one of George R.R. Martin's books. Instead, it will blend various books together with the main one being A Storm of Swords.
"A Storm of Swords is too long to fit in a single season," said series co-creator D.B. Weiss. "And as readers know, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons take place during roughly the same time frame, so we’ll have to fold those together. The plan, if we’re lucky enough to be given the opportunity to see it through, is to use as many seasons as we need to tell the story as a whole, to do justice to George’s entire opus."
Be sure to check out our recap of the latest episode of Game of Throneshere.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
