‘Boardwalk Empire’ season 5 official; HBO hands series early renewal

Clearly, HBO is impressed with the direction that “Boardwalk Empire” is taking this season.

While the Steve Buscemi series is not a ratings smash on the same level as “Game of Thrones” or “True Blood,” the network announced Thursday that they are bringing it back for its fifth season in 2014. The story has progressed nicely this year, and the surprise Emmy win of Bobby Cannavale in the Best Supporting Actor category this past weekend surely helped to only fuel the series’ early renewal even further.

In a statement today, HBO boss Michael Lombardo had the following to say about bringing “Boardwalk Empire” back for another go:

“Thanks to Terry Winter, Martin Scorsese, Tim Van Patten, Howard Korder and their stellar team, BOARDWALK EMPIRE remains in a class by itself. I look forward to another electrifying season of this impeccably crafted series.”

This news is of course rather welcome, since it does further shore up what the lineup is going to be next year. You have “True Detective” (the eight-episode limited series event) in the winter, followed by “Game of Thrones” in the spring and “True Blood” in the summer. “The Leftovers” from Damon Lindelof was recently ordered to series, but it may not be until late next year or even early 2015 that it premieres, based on when the writers are able to start working on producing scripts. There is also Ryan Murphy’s “Open” on the horizon, and while it has not been officially ordered just yet, it has the sort of cast attached that it seems like this will be a lock.

The only HBO show that is still in the dark about its fate is “The Newsroom.” Jeff Daniels has already said that the show will return, but it is really a question as to when due to the busy schedule of creator Aaron Sorkin.

Photo: HBO