Following the successful debut episode of Boardwalk Empire‘s third season, HBO has announced that it will be renewing the award-winning series for a fourth season. “Terry Winter, Martin Scorsese and the rest of their outstanding team continue to produce a stunning show thatnever fails to surprise and entertain,” said HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. “We are excited to bring this unique series back for a fourth season.”
In addition to the 7.2 million viewers who tuned in for the first episode of this season, it also helps that the show received four 2012 Emmy® Awards, for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Tim Van Patten); Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (tie with Game of Thrones); Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series; and Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role.
The current season has been an intense slow-boiler to date, and its strengths lie in the focus on characters. Starring Steve Buscemi as the 1920s gangster Nucky Thompson, it mixes history with dramatic fiction to create a vivid version of life on New Jersey’s boardwalks during Prohibition Era America. It certainly hasn’t pulled any punches to date, killing off major characters and introducing new ones that have changed the game in town completely. This season has also starred Kelly MacDonald, Bobby Cannavale, Michael K. Williams, Shea Whigham, Meg Chambers Steedle and Stephen Root, but who knows how long they will last?
The Reel Bits provides weekly reviews of Boardwallk Empire in our TV Bits section.
