Game of Thrones Fifth & Sixth Seasons Commissioned

The beloved fantasy drama will return for further runs until 2016- but who will sit atop the Iron Throne by then, we wonder?
HBO Studios have today commissioned a fifth and sixth season of their hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones. Based loosely on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the series takes place in the fictitious realm of Westeros and its neighbouring islands, boasting romance, violence and dragons aplenty on a weekly basis.

The news broke earlier today that HBO have signed the show's lead writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for a further two seasons of high-octane televisual entertainment, effectively confirming the existence of both Season Five and Season Six in the process. While rumours have circulated this week (thanks to a comment made by Martin) that A Dream of Spring (the final instalment in the Ice and Fire franchise, though the author still has to complete the penultimate book first!) will be adapted into two feature films rather than a season of TV episodes, at present Benioff and Weiss have made explicit their hope to render the narrative in its entirety over the course of seven ten-episode seasons, and since Martin has apparently revealed just how the dramatic ongoing storyline will conclude to them, at least we can be sure that Thrones' next few seasons will have a clear plot trajectory as a result.

Game of Thrones returns to Sky Atlantic with its devastating fourth season on April 7th, with Seasons Five and Six all but guaranteed to air in Spring 2015 and Spring 2016 respectively.