The fight for the throne will continue for two more seasons.
HBO has renewed "Game of Thrones" for a fifth and sixth season, according to the Associated Press. The news of renewal comes after an explosive, record-breaking fourth season premiere on Sunday with 6.6 million viewers. Season three premiered with 4.4 million viewers.
The drama, which is based on the George R.R. Martin books, is HBO's most-watched program since the finale of "The Sopranos" in 2007, which drew 11.9 million viewers. The show is set on the exotic, often war-torn continent of Westeros and chronicles the events and battles in fictional lands.
"Game of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other," Michael Lombardo, president of programming at HBO, said in a statement, according to the Huffington Post. "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."
Series creators and executive producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff have already signed on for two more seasons. Benioff and Weiss said they would likely wrap up the show after seven or eight seasons.
"We know there's an end somewhere in the seven- or eight-season zone. It's not something that goes 10, 11--it doesn't just keep on going because it can," Weiss told Vanity Fair. "I think the desire to milk more out of it is what would eventually kill it, if we gave in to that."
Actors Michel Huisman, Lena Headey, Charles Dance and Natalie Dormer were promoted to series regulars for Season five. The Emmy Award-winning television program has won over a large audience with their mix of politics, war, magic, sex and violence. The network is promising more "dazzling storytelling" in the nest seasons.
According to TV Guide, "Game of Thrones" has become the most illegally-downloaded TV program internationally; the program was downloaded over 1.4 million times between January and February this year and accounts for a quarter of all pirated downloads from 100 torrent sites.
"Game of Thrones" airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
