HBO’s Boardwalk Empire more than found an audience during its series debut on Sunday night, one week after True Blood wrapped up its third season. The premiere episode drew in 4.8 million viewers during its first showing and drove that number up to 7.1 million after two additional evening plays.
The 4.8 million viewers is the most HBO has pulled for a premiere since 2004 when Deadwood rode the curtails of The Sopranos. That was reason enough for HBO to announce this morning that a second season has already been picked up.
“All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi,” said Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. “The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”
Boardwalk Empire returns for its second episode this upcoming Sunday evening.
