‘GoT’ six to wield its sword soon

HBO already in talks with producers for seventh and eighth editions

Game of Thrones (GoT) season six is gearing up to premiere on April 24. The news was made public by TV giant HBO at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, reported Variety.

While little is known about the plot for the upcoming episodes of the hugely popular fantasy series, a teaser released late last year suggests it will address the season five cliff-hanger, which left fans speculating whether or not Kit Harington’s Jon Snow was alive after he became the victim of a Julius Caesar-like uprising.

The season also marks the return of Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark, a character who has not been seen since season four. New cast members include Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven (a character first played by Struan Rodger) and UnReal actor Freddie Stroma as Dickon Tarly, the brother of John Bradley’s Samwell.

Ian McShane, who will join GoT in an undisclosed role for one episode, said, “I am responsible for bringing somebody back that you think you’re never going to see again. I’ll leave it to that.” While the season is yet to premiere, HBO is already in talks with the show’s producers David Benioff and DB Weiss about committing to a seventh and eighth season. HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo confirmed the development but declined to elaborate.



GoT season five finale amassed the show’s largest audience ever with 8.11 million viewers. The series was also the most-pirated TV show of 2015. The show’s worldwide fan base is crucial to HBO at a time when the service is expanding its distribution base with the standalone HBO Now broadband offering.

At the recent Emmys, GoT broke the record for most wins for a single show in one year — an impressive feat for a series with only five seasons under its belt. With 24 nominations, the show bagged 12 awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Supporting Actor.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2016.

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