On Thursday, HBO announced that season 4 of Game of Thrones will premiere in April.

On Apr. 6 at 9 p.m. EST, the fourth season of Game of Thrones will begin. According to Rolling Stone, the season will bring the second half of George R.R. Martin's book, A Storm of Swords, to life. The book is the third book in Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series.

HBO will air a sneak peek at the new season of Game of Thrones this Sunday. The preview will air before the series premiere of True Detective, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, at 9 p.m. HBO has reportedly promised that fans will not be disappointed if they tune in to watch the trailer.

"HBO is promising this Sunday's spot will feature glimpses of the new characters this season and scenes from actual episodes," Los Angeles Times reports.

The newspaper also reports that Martin's penmanship will be seen in season 4 as he wrote the season's second episode.

"I like unexpected things, and I always like the suspense to be real," Martin said in an interview with Conan O'Brien this summer. "I want my readers and I want my viewers to be afraid when my characters are in danger. I want them to be afraid to turn the next page because the character may not survive it."

If season 4 is anywhere near as popular as season 3, the show might be the victim of millions of illegal downloads yet again. Season 3's finale aired in June, and within one week of the episode's premiere, it was pirated 5.9 million times, making it the most pirated show of 2013. This is Game of Thrones' second year winning the title, having been the most-pirated television show of 2012 as well.

A Game of Thrones video game is also currently in the works and will be based off of the HBO series, rather than Martin's novel series.

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