SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't read A Storm of Swords, watch no further. Otherwise, this handy PSA will help you cope with all the strong feelings George R.R. Martin has stirred up within you. This is your Milk of the Poppy.

[io9]

It's official: HBO has renewed Game of Thrones for a third season, after just two episodes of season 2.

Season 3 will span 10 episodes, which producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss say won't be enough to cover all of the events of the third book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Weiss:

A Storm of Swords is too long to fit in a single season. ... And as readers know, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons take place during roughly the same time frame, so we'll have to fold those together. The plan, if we're lucky enough to be given the opportunity to see it through, is to use as many seasons as we need to tell the story as a whole, to do justice to George's entire opus.

If Game of Thrones keeps pulling in stellar ratings and cleaning up at awards shows, it looks like there's a good chance they'll get that opportunity.

[blastr]