‘Game of Thrones’ season 4 official, as if you had any doubt

After pretty much no waiting whatsoever, HBO confirmed on Tuesday what has to be television’s worst-kept secret these days: “Game of Thrones” will in fact be back for a fourth season. The producers have, after all, already started to work on the story for the ten upcoming episodes, and so the network was obviously just waiting to ensure that the ratings were fantastic for the premiere before giving this the green light.

At the end of the day, the premiere ratings are even more stellar than you would probably first realize. Sunday’s episode drew a series-high 4.4 million viewers despite airing against both “The Walking Dead’s” finale and the end of the History miniseries “The Bible,” and it also brought in nearly 7 million viewers on the night including repeats. Considering the cost of owning HBO, you know that the overall viewership is going to be a little lower than something like AMC, especially in an age when people can set their DVRs and watch this anytime. (“Game of Thrones” last season scored on average more than 10 million views a week across multiple platforms, and thanks to subscribers mattering more than demos, the network really doesn’t care so much about the age of its viewers.)

So what will we see during a season 4? Basically more of the George R.R. Martin book A Storm of Swords, which was broken up thanks to its sheer density. We don’t want to give anything else away, mostly because this is a show that really yields itself to shock and awe.

Even though you had to know this renewal was coming given the state of pre-production, are you still excited to see it? If you want to watch a preview for Sunday night’s new “Game of Thrones,” you can do so just by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: HBO