M-Net confirms Game of Thrones season 2

Cape Town – Winter is nearly here. After months of waiting for news on a start date for the second season of the award-winning TV series Game of Thrones, South Africans can finally rejoice.

New episodes of the fantasy series will be premiering on M-Net and M-Net HD with a double, two-hour episode on Friday April 13 at 22:05. This double episode will be preceded by a Season 2 Preview Special episode on Sunday April 8 at 22:05.

The remaining episodes of the season, which will total 10 episodes, will be broadcast each Friday at 22:05, with a repeat airing on Sunday evenings. The first episode of season 2 is entitled “The North Remembers”.

Game of Thrones season 2 will make its US debut on HBO on April 1, and the M-Net schedule for the new episodes means that South Africa will only be 5 days behind the US from episode 2 onwards.

This is a marked improvement in scheduling after the first season debuted on South African television in November 2011, a full five months after its US premiere.

Based on the best-selling series of novels by George RR Martin, Game of Thrones is a sprawling fantasy series set in a mythical, medieval land called the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and chronicles the violent and scheming ploys among the kingdoms various noble families to rule the Seven Kingdoms from atop the Iron Throne.

Season 2 is based on Martin’s novel A Clash of Kings and will introduce new characters such as Melisandre the Red Priestess (played by Dutch actress Carice van Outen) and Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon, who is staking his claim to Iron Throne by waging war against his brother Renly Baratheon.

Game of Thrones was nominated for Best Drama Series at the Emmy Awards in 2011, and won the Best Supporting Emmy for Peter Dinklage, who plays the Imp Tyrion Lannister.

A number of thrilling trailers for the much-anticipated have also been released in the run-up to the season 2 premiere.