Game of Thrones , the hit HBO fantasy series based on a series of bestselling novels by George R.R. Martin, will explore some extremely dark places in the upcoming season, if the first official preview trailer that hit the web this weekend is any indication.
Season 4 of Game of Thrones debuts April 6 on HBO in the United States and the following day in the U.K. on Sky Atlantic. But at 8:58 Eastern Time in the U.S. Sunday night, HBO aired the first official, full preview of the new season, posting it online shortly afterward.
And the new trailer offers Game of Thrones fans a full one minute and 48 seconds of ominous portents, violent action and grim suggestions of bloodshed. Just what the show’s legions of followers expect.
The third season of Game of Thrones , which wrapped up last June, averaged 13.6 million viewers per episode , according to The Hollywood Reporter , which made it the second most-watched season in the cable network’s history, trailing only the 2004 season of HBO’s groundbreaking gangster drama The Sopranos .
Those audience figures include all viewers, not only those who watch the show in its first airing on Sunday nights. It also includes those who catch the latest Game of Thrones episode during its reruns throughout the week, on HBO On Demand and the cable network’s online service, HBO GO, as well as fans who record the show on their own DVRs and watch it later.
Those numbers were up by abut 2 million viewers per episode from Season 2, and naturally HBO hopes for a similar bump in Season 4.
The preview, which you can check out above, offers nothing to say that Game of Thrones fans wouldn’t oblige. As The Los Angeles Times notes, the preview features more nastiness from the hated, psychopathic King Joffrey — but it also shows the much-abused (in Season 3) Jamie Lannister back in full combat regalia giving the boy king some needed straight talk.
Jamie Lannister, portrayed as always by Dutch actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, also appears to have a new, artificial hand to replace the real one so cruelly chopped off in Season 3.
In addition to hints of battles and further palace intrigue, the trailer also features some philosophical ruminations, mainly delivered by Ser Jorah Momont, the disgraced but loyal knight who has an unrequited thing for queen-in-exile Daenerys Targaryen.
Mormont captures perfectly the moral quagmire that only gets deeper with every Game of Thrones season.
“It’s tempting to see your enemies as evil,” intones the character played by Scottish actor Ian Glen. “But there’s good and evil on both sides in every war.”
