Nachdem am Sonntag endlich die vierte Staffel der HBO-Serie Game of Thrones gestartet ist ließ der Sender nun per Pressemitteilung verkünden, dass man zwei weitere Staffeln der Erfolgsserie bestellt habe. Die Staffelpremiere lockte 6,6 Millionen Zuschauer an die Fernseher und Streams und lies letzteren teilweise sogar zusammenbrechen. Die erste Episode übertraf damit die bisherige Rekordmarke von 5,5 Millionen Zuschauern, welche die Premiere der vorangegangenen Staffel setzte. Für HBO ist es zudem die höchste Einschaltquote seit dem Finale der Serie Die Sopranos.
Wie sich die aktuelle vierte Staffel schlägt könnt ihr in unserer Kritik zur ersten Episode nachlesen. Reviews der vergangenen Staffeln findet ihr in der Episodenübersicht zu Game of Thrones.
Offizielle Pressemitteilung (englisch):
HBO RENEWS GAME OF THRONES FOR FIFTH AND SIXTH SEASONS
Season Four Debut Scores Highest Viewership Yet
LOS ANGELES, April 8, 2014 – HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fifth and sixth season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.
“GAME OF THRONES is a phenomenon like no other,” noted Lombardo. “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.”
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 fourth season Sunday, April 6 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time.
Cast regulars for the fourth season of GAME OF THRONES include: Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Charles Dance, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Kit Harington, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Alfie Allen, Jerome Flynn, Conleth Hill, John Bradley, Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham, Stephen Dillane, Natalie Dormer, Iain Glen, Kristofer Hivju, Sibel Kekilli, Rose Leslie, Rory McCann, Michael McElhatton, Iwan Rheon and Carice van Houten.
Among the early critical praise for the fourth season, the Los Angeles Times called GAME OF THRONES “the Best Television Show Ever,” adding that “no other series comes close,” and “television just doesn’t get any better than this,” while Newsday hailed the series as “still TV’s best,” awarding the show an A+. The Hollywood Reporter observed, “The consistency of excellence in GAME OF THRONES is truly something to behold,” and the San Francisco Chronicle described it as “great and addictive.”
The season four premiere of GAME OF THRONES on Sunday, April 6 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) was watched by an average of 6.6 million viewers, making it HBO’s most-watched program since the finale of “The Sopranos” in 2007 (11.9 million viewers). The premiere improved 52% over last season’s premiere and 23% over last season’s finale. GAME OF THRONES added an additional 1.6 million viewers from the 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. replays, for a gross audience of 8.2 million viewers for the night. Season three of the series had an average gross audience of 14.4 million viewers per episode.
Season four credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger and Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis and George R.R. Martin; producers, Chris Newman and Greg Spence.