TV News: BREAKING BAD Renewed for Fourth Season, First Teaser Trailer and Image for GAME OF THRONES

AMC has just ordered a fourth season of television’s tensest drama, Breaking Bad.  The third season ended just a few minutes ago on my coast and, wow.  Creator Vince Gilligan has mentioned that he once envisioned the series to run for exactly four seasons; while he seems to have stepped back a bit from that notion, it’s possible that we’re entering the final lap.  According to Deadline, the deal has been in the works for weeks now, with a budget dispute precluding official notice.  The creative team wanted $3.3 million, while AMC wanted $3.1 million.  Know that either number is rather high for a cable drama, so the writers should have plenty of funds to bring their ideas to life next year.

After the jump, check out the first teaser trailer and image from HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones.

HBO has a ten-episode season of Game of Thrones ready to premiere sometime in early 2011.  Thrones will adapt George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, with the first season based on the first book titled (of course) Game of Thrones.  Here’s a brief logline for the first season:

The sprawling tale set in the mythical land of Westeros tells the story of the noble Stark family who become caught up in high court intrigue when patriarch Eddard (played by Sean Bean) becomes the king’s new right-hand man.

The cast includes Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Lena Headey, Harry Lloyd, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jennifer Ehle and Peter Dinklage.

After debuting the fantastic Boardwalk Empire trailer this weekend, HBO unveiled a new trailer for Thrones just minutes before the third season premiere of their other other literary-based series, True Blood.  It’s more atmospheric than revelatory, but worth a look.

Also, The Live Feed has a new image from the series: