Game of Thrones’ archive to be made available with Sky’s On Demand

Sky is giving access to all the episodes from series one and two of Game of Thrones via their On Demand and Sky Go services.

The archive is to go live on the same day the third season launches on Sky Atlantic. The Golden Globe and Emmy-winning drama saga will return on Monday the 1st of April at 9pm, less than 24 hours after it returns in the US. Based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling book series A Song of Ice and Fire, chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom.

Elaine Pyke, Director, Sky Atlantic HD, said: “Game of Thrones has a huge fanbase in the UK and we are thrilled that from 1st April we will be able to give our customers access to Seasons 1 and 2 On Demand, as well as the new Season 3 episodes exclusively on Sky Atlantic HD, less than 24 hours after the US broadcast.”

Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the series has redefined the fantasy genre when it launched back in April 2011, and has since garnered much critical acclaim and a raft of awards recognition, including eight Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award.

The third season, which Benioff and Weiss have called “the season that have been anticipating from the very beginning”, will largely be based on the first half of George RR Martin’s hugely popular novel A Storm of Swords, which begins with the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms facing grave peril.

The thrid run will see a wealth of acting talent join the cast, such as Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell, Mackenzie Crook as Orell, Ciarán Hinds as Wildling leader Mance Rayder, Clive Russell as Bryndon ‘The Blackfish’ Tully, Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr and Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion.

Many of the series’ familiar faces will return for season three including Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson, Alfie Allen and Peter Dinklage, who won an Emmy® and a Golden Globe® for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.

The creators have recently confirmed that they’ll be even more Game of Thrones this year, with each episode running close to an hour long.

Benioff explained: “A super-sized season, as befitting Storm of Swords. Last year we had a lot of 52-minute episodes. This year is a lot of 56, 57.”

The On Demand and Catch Up services are available at no extra cost to more than 5 million homes with a Sky TV subscription, a compatible Sky+HD box and a broadband connection. The third series of Game of Thrones returns on Monday April 1st at 9pm on Sky Atlantic and Sky Atlantic HD with series one and two available On Demand and via Sky Go from the same date.

[Reported by Neil Lang]