‘Westworld’ Already Doing Better Than ‘Game Of Thrones’? Warner Bros. Head Weighs In

HBO definitely has a keeper in the fantasy show “Game of Thrones,” but with the success of its new sci-fi series “Westworld,” it seems like the network is on a roll.

Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara already has grand plans for “Westworld,” and he is hinting that it might be an even bigger hit than “Game of Thrones.

“I am really, really excited about the opportunity that we potentially have with ‘Westworld,'” Tsujihara said at the Credit Suisse Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Phoenix on Tuesday, according to Variety. “If you look at the viewer data on ‘Westworld,’ its first year viewing on all platforms is greater than ‘Game of Thrones.'”

“Westworld” drew in over three million viewers across different platforms in its first season run, and it has a huge chance of surpassing “Game of Thrones,” which usually reels in around eight million viewers or more.

“I am not saying it’s ‘Game of Thrones.’ I am not saying it’s going to be ‘Game of Thrones,'” Tsujihara clarified. “But if gives you a context of where it sits this first year that just finished this week.”

Given the show’s success, it does not come as any surprise that HBO renewed “Westworld” for a second season run. “It’s fantastic to have a broad-based cultural and ratings hit to build from,” HBO’s new programming president Casey Bloys said of “Westworld.” “That’s a great, great luxury.”

Show creators Jonathan Nolan and his wife Lisa Joy need not scramble for storyline ideas next season though, since they’ve got the show all figured out even before it aired. This is what James Marsden, the actor who plays host Teddy Flood, earlier told Entertainment Weekly.

“It wasn’t about getting the first 10 [episodes] done, it was about mapping out what the next five or six years are going to be,” said Marsden. “We wanted everything in line so that when the very last episode airs and we have our show finale, five or seven years down the line, we knew how it was going to end the first season – that’s the way [show creator] Jonah [Nolan] and [executive producer J.J. Abrams] operate.”

“Westworld” airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.