Spring is finally in the air, but the Game of Thrones fans who descended on New York’s Barclays Centre on Thursday evening know differently: winter is coming.
The fourth season of HBO’s increasingly popular medieval fantasy-drama will premiere on April 6, but 7,000 people who bought tickets to the Brooklyn event were treated to an advance screening of the season’s first episode, along with a brief panel discussion with several cast members and author George R.R. Martin.
The show’s plot combines a long war among several noble houses in Westeros, but with elements of magic and fantasy – including dragons and the undead – in the mix.
‘Winter is coming’ is the motto of the Stark House, which saw several of its members killed in the climax of the third season that aired in the spring of 2013. That event, known popularly as the ‘red wedding’ among viewers, boosted interest in a show already known for surprising audiences with the unexpected demise of important characters.
Fans swarmed the arena for a chance to sit on the Iron Throne, the king’s seat in the fictional world of Westeros, where the series takes place, see costumes used in the show and buy merchandise, including a recently released hip-hop album, Catch the Throne, inspired by the series. The rapper Common appeared at the arena to perform his song The Ladder, which appears on the soundtrack.
The third season averaged 14.2 million viewers across all viewing platforms, according to HBO parent Time Warner, which makes it HBO’s second-most-popular show of all time, trailing only The Sopranos.
With each season composed of just 10 episodes, it’s been a long wait since the previous season’s shocking end. Many attendees said they busied themselves with reading – or re-reading – the books, or revisiting old episodes.
“I’ve been re-reading, and then really keeping up with what’s going on with the show,” said Jillian Tam, 21, who was in line to take pictures on the Iron Throne.
Fans cited the show’s ability to present nuanced characters that fall along the moral spectrum, and whose biggest struggles are often not with other-worldly creatures but personal relationships with family members.