'Game of Thrones' in for long run, says HBO
Published Jul 29 2011, 16:09 BST | By Morgan Jeffery
© HBO
The fantasy drama was renewed for a second season back in April, with new episodes expected to air in 2012.
"I hope it lasts for 20 years," HBO programming president Lombardo told Entertainment Weekly. "I promise you we won't stop it before it's ready to stop.
"There's a great relationship fans have with the show and we appreciate that. We've never seen people get so excited about casting [decisions]."
HBO co-president Pleper also insisted that the television adaptation will continue "as long as [author George R R Martin] keeps writing".
However, Lombardo confirmed that HBO does not have a "predetermined number of seasons" in mind for Game of Thrones, and also rejected the notion of expanding each season beyond ten episodes.
"If we could do 12 [episodes], we would," he insisted. "To produce those shows in the time they have, there's no way they could physically do more than ten... without diluting the quality."
Game of Thrones executive producer David Benioff recently revealed that a potential third season will begin to branch away from George R R Martin's original novels.
> Liam Cunningham joins Game of Thrones cast
Watch the Comic-Con trailer for Game of Thrones below:
When he says 'diverge' I think he meant that after the third season, it won't be 1 book = 1 season, because Book 3 is too big and Books 4 and 5 take place at the same time. The same events in the books will broadly happen (adjusted for budget and cast size, of course), but an event in Book 3 may be held back for Season 4, or something from Book 5 brought forward to Season 3, for example.
August 4th 2011 at 3:09pm
maybe it;ll be the first fantasy series to win emmys and sh*t.
August 2nd 2011 at 3:04am
Everyone's entitled to their opinion but moaning that a television show is twaddle on an article about it where all the fans are praising it must be trollbait, surely?
August 1st 2011 at 11:51am
Sky Atlantic. I think it's coming back in either January or February. It's an excellent show :)
July 30th 2011 at 3:43pm
What channel does it air on here in the UK? I really want to watch this show!
July 30th 2011 at 10:22am