Author: Michael O'Connell, Lesley Goldberg

HBO

“Game of Thrones”

HBO has renewed Game of Thrones for two additional seasons, taking the fantasy drama into its sixth cycle. News of the order comes two days after the record-breaking ratings for the fourth season premiere and weeks after renewing deals with co-creators and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

“Game of Thrones is a phenomenon like no other,” said programming president Michael Lombardo. “David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with their talented collaborators, continue to surpass themselves, and we look forward to more of their dazzling storytelling.”

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Based on the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones has grown over recent years to become the network’s biggest series. The most recent season grossed an average weekly audience of 14.4 million viewers, and Sunday’s return brought in 6.6 million viewers — HBO’s most-watched telecast since the 2007 series finale of The Sopranos.

The pricey series, which counts Peter Dinklage Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington among its sprawling cast of regulars, shoots across Europe — with bases in Northern Ireland, Croatia and Iceland.

With the renewal, Game of Thrones becomes HBO’s longest-running original scripted series currently on the air. It comes as no sup surprise given ratings and acclaim — as well as the pay cable network’s waning lineup of original scripted dramas. HBO this year will say farewell to True Blood following its seventh and final season, and Emmys darling Boardwalk Empire will also sign off after its upcoming fifth season.

STORY: ‘Game of Thrones’ Premiere Is HBO’s Most Watched Since ‘Sopranos’ Finale

Aaron Sorkin‘s The Newsroom will return later this year for its third and final season as well. Anthology drama True Detective is also considered a lock to return but an official second season renewal has not yet been announced. HBO this year will debut Damon Lindelof‘s adaptation of The Leftovers. Meanwhile, HBO has a rich comedy slate that also includes critical darling Silicon Valley, Girls, Getting On, Looking, Vice and upcoming half-hours The Brink, Ballers and Togetherness.

More to come…

CBS

“How I Met Your Mother”

How I Met Your Mother may be coming to an end, but the sitcom’s unique narrative could live on.

CBS is in early talks with producer 20th Century Fox TV for a potential spinoff of its outgoing hit that would follow a woman on a similar quest to find the father of her children, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

STORY: Fall Spinoffs Hoping to Turn Hits Into Franchises

The spinoff, which would not include any original How I Met Your Mother characters, comes from co-creators and executive producers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and Up All Night creator Emily Spivey.

The new take would include a similar set of friends, potentially glimpsed in the parent series’ (no pun intended) finale, and major set piece MacLaren’s Pub may even be employed as a hangout.

Bays, Thomas and Spivey would co-write and executive produce the spinoff.

CBS has become increasingly reliant on How I Met Your Mother in its later seasons. With former heavyweights Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men set up on Thursdays, the 8 p.m. show now anchors its Monday block as the night’s highest-rated program. And though 2 Broke Girls has recently seen a ratings boost with its move to the post–How I Met Your Mother slot, the former juggernaut is still outshone considerably by its exiting lead-in.

In addition to this potential follow-up, studio 20th Television is also in early talks for a possible Modern Family spinoff. This season, ABC launched Once Upon a Time‘s Wonderland–set spinoff, and The CW has found early success with The Vampire Diaries‘ offshoot The Originals. The CW also has a planted spinoff set for sophomore drama Arrow, centering on DC Comics hero The Flash. CBS is already prepping a New Orleans–set NCIS spinoff from showrunner Gary Glasberg and star Mark Harmon

On cable, AMC also has spinoffs in the works for The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad; ABC Family this month debuted Pretty Little Liars spinoff Ravenswood; and Showtime has been hinting that there may be life left in its Dexter franchise following the drama’s eight-season run.