"Game of Thrones" Season 3 is a-go. You know what that means: More winter, war and probably another ominous "W" term on the way! HBO has renewed the hit fantasy drama for a third season following its blockbuster ratings (by HBO standards) for the Season 2 premiere.

Close to 4 million people watched the Season 2 premiere, making it one of HBO's highest rated broadcasts in months. The ratings remained strong for Episode 2, delivering 3.8 million viewers, according to EW. With TV viewership typically decreasing after a premiere, "Game of Thrones'" ability to retain nearly all of the Season 2 debut audience is quite the feat.

"Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss raised our expectations for the second season – and then surpassed them,” Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, said in a statement. “We are thrilled by all the viewer and media support we’ve received for the series, and can’t wait to see what Dan and David have in store for next season.”

During its first season, "Game of Thrones" brought in more than 2 million viewers per episode. The drama, based on George R. R. Martin's popular novel series, stars Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley and Emilia Clarke. Dinklage told The New York Times that he's signed on for six seasons of the HBO series.

“HBO will read this and laugh, because they own my life. 'Ha ha ha, he signed that in blood!'" Dinklage said.

If the pattern of the series' translation from novel to screen continues, "Game of Thrones" Season 3 would follow Martin's "A Storm of Swords," the third book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.

美国HBO电视台的魔幻史诗大作《权力的游戏》（Game of Thrones）第二季正在如火如荼的播出，本周二电视台方面也正式确认续订该剧的第三季。对于即将到来的第三季，该剧的原创作者乔治·RR·马丁（George R R Martin）也透露了一些细节。

乔治·马丁是《权力的游戏》的原作者，他也从宏观上掌控着剧情的发展。对于即将筹拍的第三季，马丁在自己的官方博客上介绍道：“与前两季一样，第三季的长度也会是10集！原创小说的第三部《冰雨的风暴》（A Storm of Swords）中的剧情，将会大部分或者全部呈现在电视剧的第三季中。”

作为著名的科幻小说家，乔治·马丁除了创作史诗小说《冰与火之歌》（A Song of Ice and Fire）外，他还以编剧的身份参与部分电视剧本的改编，《权力的游戏》第一季中的第8集，以及第二季中的第9集都是由他亲自执笔，而在第三季中，他也将为第7集撰写剧本。

乔治·马丁创作的小说》《冰与火之歌》读来令人心潮澎湃，而根据这部小说改编的电视剧《权力的游戏》也大获成功，第二季刚开始播出就续订第三季，这让该剧的主创之一米歇尔·罗姆巴多（Michael Lombardo）非常看好电视剧的未来：“我希望这部电视剧能拍摄20年，我保证，除非剧情本身已经到了非结束不可的地步，否则我们是不会停止拍摄的。”

另据透露，《权力的游戏》第三季将会在今年的12月份开始拍摄，明年的5月中旬有可能正式开始播出。