Game Of Thrones is a giant hit for HBO and is being treated as such — receiving a two-year renewal a day after the fourth-season premiere delivered the fantasy series’ biggest ratings to date and HBO’s largest audience since The Sopranos finale.
This is the first multi-season pickup for Game Of Thrones, which is now assured to run for least six seasons. How far can the hit go seems to be in the hands of the novels’ writer George R.R. Martin, who is still writing Book 6 in the seven-book series. There is breathing room — the current Season 4 chronicles events that take place toward the end of the third book. “Game Of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other,” said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. “(Creators) 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.”
In the five years since Game of Thrones began filming in N.Ireland , the biggest TV production in Europe has become big news to the Northern Irish economy. The first four seasons brought a direct economic benefit of £82m, according to the local assembly, including wages for cast and crew, hotels, services and tourism, and has created the equivalent of more than 900 full-time and 5,700 part-time jobs in a region of fewer than 2 million people.
Last month the first and deputy first ministers, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, preceded their annual St Patrick’s Day trip to Washington with a visit to senior HBO producers in Los Angeles. As Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, lord mayor of Belfast, said: “Anything that feeds the Game of Thrones hype is very good for the city.”
The game of thrones exhibition is coming to Belfast’s Waterfront hall. click here
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