‘Game of Thrones’ by the numbers
Monster digits from Sand Snakes to direwolves.
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is filled with numbers that fans can recite from memory: Eight Sand Snakes, the bastard daughters of Oberyn Martell; seven kingdoms of Westeros; six direwolves adopted by the Starks; and three fire-breathing dragons controlled by Daenerys Targaryen – um, make that two.
❚ The Emmy-winning HBO fantasy drama, based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling book series, offers a cornucopia of significant digits. ❚ A look at the monster hit, which returns for a six-episode Season 8 on April 14 (9 EDT/PDT), by the numbers:
73
The total number of episodes, including six planned for the eighth and final season. “Thrones” aired 10 episodes in each of its first six seasons, and seven in its seventh. 80
The number of minutes in the series’ longest (and most recent) episode, Season 7 finale “The Dragon and the Wolf.” Three of the 12 longest episodes so far aired last season. Director David Nutter has said all six upcoming episodes will run an hour or more.
32.8 million
Average audience for Season 7 (on all platforms), the show’s most popular. Viewership has grown each season: Season 1, 9.3 million; Season 2, 11.6 million; Season 3, 14.4 million; Season 4, 19.1 million; Season 5, 20.2 million; Season 6, 25.7 million.
132
Total number of Emmy nominations, resulting in 47 statuettes. That includes Emmy wins for best drama series in 2015, 2016 and 2018 for the three most recent seasons. “Thrones” hit high-water marks for nominations (24) and awards (12) for Season 5 (2015) and Season 6 (2016).
94
The average critics’ ratings for Season 4, the show’s peak on review aggregation site Metacritic.com. Scores for Seasons 5 (91), 6 (73) and 7 (77) showed cooling ardor, despite best-drama Emmy wins for those seasons.
5
Number of books published in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, on which the series is based: “A Game of Thrones,” 1996; “A Clash of Kings,” 1999; “A Storm of Swords,” 2000; “A Feast for Crows,” 2005; and “A Dance With Dragons,” 2011. Two more books are expected to complete the series: “The Winds of Winter,” which Martin is now writing, and “A Dream of Spring.”
220
Number of weeks “A Game of Thrones” has appeared on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list of the top 150 titles. That’s more than four years (if not consecutively), an impressive tenure. Total weeks on the list for other books in the series: “A Dance With Dragons,” 156; “A Clash of Kings,” 115; A Storm of Swords,” 103; and “A Feast for Crows,” 99.
186
The number of deaths through seven seasons, from a field of 330 important characters counted by Australian researchers Reidar Lystad and Benjamin Brown in a “Game of Thrones” mortality analysis in the journal Injury Epidemiology. That’s a 56.4 percent mortality rate, with all but two of those deaths resulting from injury, burns or poisoning. (We guess Westeros did not have a thriving insurance industry.)