Will True Blood get dethroned?

Following the previous week’s dragon-unleashing stunner, HBO’s Game of Thrones climbed in the ratings Sunday night for the fifth episode of the season.

Thrones delivered 5.3 million viewers for its first airing at 9 p.m. That’s up 8 percent from the previous week, which was also a record high, and had built on a previous record high this season. The show was watched by 6.7 million across two plays. So far, Thrones is averaging 13.4 million viewers for season 3 once all airings and DVR playback is accounted for — almost 2 million more than the season 2 average.

There’s some significance to hitting last night’s number. Last year’s True Blood premiered to 5.2 million viewers. Could Game of Thrones overthrow True Blood to become the network’s most-watched series this year? (Yes, they’re on the same network, so it’s all gravy for HBO, but it’s still fun to pit these two shows with heavy online fandoms against each other and see which comes out on top).

Here’s EW’s recap of the Thrones episode and be sure to check out our interview with the cast about the episode’s “hot tub” scenes.

Image Credit: HBO

Just because characters in Game of Thrones are busy struggling for survival in an unforgiving realm doesn’t mean they never bathe — they just often look like they never bathe. Sunday’s hour featured two dramatic pivotal scenes where major characters bared their emotions (among other things) while washing off the grime of the last two seasons.

In the first, Night’s Watch spy Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Wildling warrior Ygritte (Rose Leslie) found solace from the bitter cold and tribal infighting in a cave’s hot spring.

“That was incredible,” Harington told EW after shooting the scene. “It’s something I think we were blessed being able to shoot. That scene in this really dire, dark world where nothing good happens and there’s very little joy. That scene is one of the very few happy moments where you can escape from the grimness and horror of Westeros. We wanted to pay tribute to that scene because in [George R.R. Martin's] books it’s so beautiful.”

The scene was shot in one day and, in case you’re wondering, yes, the water was warm. “There are promises you are made on film sets about water being warm,” Harington said. “Bulls–t, you know it’s gonna be cold. But they made a lovely warm bath for us.”

Leslie called the scene “a very bizarre experience, but it was completely necessary.” READ FULL STORY »

Sunday’s stunner episode of Game of Thrones continued the HBO fantasy hit’s streak of setting new ratings records.

The fourth episode of the third season delivered 4.9 million viewers for its 9 p.m. telecast, up 4 percent from last week, with 5.9 million viewers for the night across two plays.

That marks a new series-high initial airing for the show, which returned to its best ratings yet last month and then hit another new benchmark last week. Episode four’s recap is here and here is an interview with producers and Emilia Clarke about the episode’s climax.

The reason Game of Thrones exists as a TV series can be traced to a few key sequences in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire novels that several years ago convinced writer-producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss that they must somehow find a way to adapt the seemingly unfilmable saga. Tonight’s episode contained one of those scenes.

Sunday’s Game of Thrones contained a stunning conclusion where Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) turned the tables on a city run by cruel slave masters. Faced with having to give up one of her priceless dragons in order to acquire an 8,000-man army, the exiled princess questing for the Iron Throne risked everything by deciding to use one asset (the army) to keep the other (the dragon), and free a city of slaves in the process. The meticulously constructed sequence satisfyingly weaved together an action sequence (dragon attack!), a plot twist (she broke her word!) and character development (Dany becomes a leader!).

“It’s a hallmark of a number of scenes in [A Storm of Swords] where, in retrospect, I should have seen it coming because George laid out all the pieces, he had given you all the clues,” Benioff said. “The best kind of surprises aren’t the ones that come out of nowhere. The best ones are where after you see it you’re asking yourself, ‘Why didn’t I see that was coming?’ I remember reading [Dany planning to give up Drogon to the slaver] and thinking, ‘Oh, this is kind of disappointing.’ When the real plan was revealed I think I even called [Weiss]. This was before we had met with George, when we were still trying to figure out if this show was possible. The culmination of that scene was one of those moments when we were like, ‘We got to make this f–king show.’ It was very gratifying seeing that wish fulfilled … I think it will be one of the most staggering things ever put on television.” READ FULL STORY »

Give HBO a hand: Game of Thrones ratings rose to new heights this week. HBO’s fantasy hit delivered series-high ratings for the third episode of its third season on Sunday night — 4.7 million viewers at 9 p.m. Across two plays, Thrones had 5.8 million viewers.

When the season premiere set a ratings record on Easter Sunday, I predicted the show would climb to new heights in the coming weeks (though didn’t expect it to happen this soon). EW’s recap for the episode, titled “Walk of Punishment,” is here. We also posted an interview with producers and actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on the episode’s shocking final moments.

Meanwhile, HBO’s second season premiere of Veep was down from its series premiere last year. Veep had 1.2 million viewers, down 14 percent. Across two plays the episode totaled 1.5 million viewers.

Sunday’s Game of Thrones concluded with an abrupt and shocking act of violence: A band of mercenaries cut off the right hand of the infamous knight Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). The scene then smash-cut to black and over the credits played a rocking rendition of “The Bear and Maiden Fair,” a popular tavern song in the world of the show, performed by indie band The Hold Steady. Coster-Waldau and Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss spoke to EW about this week’s big moment.

“Jaime comes from a family where, if all else fails, yo1 can always buy your way out of a situation,” Coster-Waldau says. “Then he meets a man where that doesn’t work.”

That man is Locke,* a henchman aligned with one of Robb Stark’s bannermen, House Bolton. And what’s quite important is that Jaime is right handed. The kingslayer lost his “sword hand,” the one that’s helped him gain a reputation as one of the deadliest swordsmen in Westeros. Coster-Waldau teases that the loss is going to be very tough for Jaime to handle (so to speak).

“It’s a horrifying experience and the question is, ‘Can he deal with that?’” Coster-Waldau says. “He’s defined as one of the greatest swordsman of all time. He draws a lot of confidence from that. And if you have something that so clearly defines you — not only the way you see yourself, but also the way the world sees you, and then you lose it …  Now anyone can kill him! And it’s not like he’s the most popular guy.” READ FULL STORY »

HBO‘s Game of Thrones remained largely steady for its second episode this season.

Week 2 of season three delivered 4.3 million viewers at 9 p.m., down just a hair from the show’s return the previous week. A total of 6.4 million viewers watched across three plays. This makes Sunday’s airing the second most-watched Thrones episode in the show’s history. Here’s our recap.

You’ll recall the Thrones season premiere debuted up against The Walking Dead season finale and on Easter Sunday, but as a premiere it was obviously also heavily promoted. Compared to AMC’s Mad Men return (3.4 million viewers), Thrones came out on top despite AMC being available in roughly three times as many homes.