'Game of Thrones' makes an epic return
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former redhead Sansa remains a brunette. Tyrion grows a beard. East and West shall meet. And, once again, more will die gruesome deaths.
Welcome to season five of the cult TV series "Game of Thrones," which premieres Sunday worldwide to a rapturous global following.
So popular is the medieval-flavored saga of blood, sex and treason that HBO is airing the new season simultaneously in 170 countries.
New York fans who tune in Sunday at 9:00 p.m. will thus see the same action as counterparts in London who stay up into the wee hours of Monday.
The globe-girdling simulcast is HBO's response to "Game of Thrones" being the world's most pirated TV program.
The season four finale was illegally downloaded eight million times, according to file-sharing news site TorrentFreak, a nightmare for HBO's marketers but a tribute to the show's appeal.
Adapted from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy saga by George R.R. Martin, "Game of Thrones" revolves around a ruthless power struggle between noble families who covet the Iron Throne in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
