Game of Thrones Season 4 has finally been announced, and this year's release date will be coming after The Walking Dead finishes its run. The fantasy drama show will be returning to HBO on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at 9 p.m.
The launch date is later by one week compared to last year's, and noticeably comes after The Walking Dead is done. The competitor show - a zombie horror drama - will start its new season earlier on February 9 and will end on March 30.
Last year, fans were torn between the two shows - both of which had their season finales pegged at the same 9 p.m. time slot. This year, Game of Thrones will let The Walking Dead go first, giving viewers the chance to ogle the Starks without thinking about zombies. HBO will also be releasing the first Season 4 trailer on Sunday, January 12, before the launch of the channel's new mystery thriller show, True Detective.
Last year would be hard to top. Game of Thrones Season 3 shocked fans with the deaths of several major characters. The gruesome "Red Wedding" in the episode, "The Rains of Castamere" was the most talked-about TV episode in 2013. As a result, Richard Madden (Robb Stark), Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Oona Chaplin (Talisa Maegyr), and a host of other minor characters are gone from the show.
For Season 4, only Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), and Art Parkinson (Rickon Stark), are what remain of the original main cast. New cast members can be expected however. Chilean actor Pedro Pascal will be playing Prince Oberyn Martell (the "Red Viper"), while British actor Roger Ashton-Griffiths will be taking on the role of Mace Tyrell.
Based on George R.R. Martin's series of novels called A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones is an epic show about noble houses in the fictional land of Westeros. It premiered on HBO in the United States back in April 2011.
