Game of Thrones Renewed for Seasons 5 and 6 by HBO

HBO has announced that Game of Thrones has been renewed for a fifth and sixth season.

“Game of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other,” noted Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. “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.”

The fourth season premiere of Game of Thrones averaged 6.6 million viewers, HBO’s most-watched program since the 2007 series finale of The Sopranos, and helped Silicon Valley become the most-watched comedy premiere since Hung in 2008. Season four’s premiere was up 52% over the third season premiere, adding an additional 1.6 million viewers in two replays for a total gross audience of 8.8 million.

The renewal makes Game of Thrones HBO’s longest-running scripted series, as True Blood ends its seven-season run this summer, Boardwalk Empire‘s five-season run concludes this fall, and nine-season comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm isn’t guaranteed to return. The series had already become the highest-rated on the network thanks to a ratings trajectory not unlike True Blood and with HBO currently in flux, restocking itself with the likes of True Detective and Looking, Game of Thrones is an even more important asset for the network to have. This renewal also takes the series to within one season of showruners Benioff and Weiss’ seven-season plan, which should easily be achieved considering the ratings heights, critical acclaim, and cultural footprint Game of Thrones has achieved in its first four seasons.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9:00 on HBO.

What did you think of the fourth season premiere of Game of Thrones? Should the show try to go beyond the seven-year plan of its creators? Is Silicon Valley the right comedy to premiere behind Game of Thrones?