Anyone who’s been keeping close tabs on Game of Thrones, HBO’s ultra popular fantasy drama based on author George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, likely is aware that each season of the show thus far has been based on one full book in the series. Those same people also might be aware that book three in the series, A Storm of Swords, is so massive and so packed with action that season three of the show, which just kicked off this past Sunday, only covers half of the book.

Because of all of this, it was widely assumed that a season four of the show was already guaranteed, despite no official announcements from HBO. We heard a rumor a while back that the network might have been considering filming seasons three and four back-to-back, and then there was another rumor recently that the next season had already been ordered.

So it will come as no surprise that after one episode of season three, HBO has officially announced season four.

The decision came after yet another huge number came down the pipe for the season three premiere episode, “Valar Dohaeris.”

According to early data, the episode scored an all-time high 4.4 million viewers, which is up from the show’s previous high mark, 4.2 million for the season two finale. It’s also a big step forward from the season two premiere, which scored 3.9 million viewers.

And that was just for the first airing of the episode; the total for all three airings of the new episode was 6.7 million viewers.

[Source: HBO]

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