HBO Renews Game of Thrones After One Episode

After just one episode, HBO has renewed Game of Thrones, its adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, for a second season. The second season is set to air next summer, and will follow the second book in Martin’s series, A Clash of Kings.

HBO has a history of early renewals, having picked up Boardwalk Empire after a single episode as well. However, Empire carried the network’s highest debut rating in six years of 7.1 million whereas Thrones, though carrying a respectable 4.2 million, didn’t break any records. Similarly, though Thrones has received favorable reviews, critics have mentioned its lack of accessibility to a general audience.

Speaking to EW, HBO programming president Michael Lombardo answered some questions about the series’ potentially premature renewal: “It’s a great show that only gets better with every episode,” he said, “and when it ends you’re left wanting more. On a creative level, it was screaming for another season. We absolutely had an expectation that this would be a slow [ratings] build. It’s challenging for people who’ve decided it’s not a genre for them. The word of mouth has been great and we don’t even have OnDemand numbers yet. We thought it was a great starting place.”

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