Excitement for Game of Thrones has reached a fever pitch, and we're still about half a year out from any new episodes - but HBO showed fans a brief bit of mercy just before the Boardwalk Empire premiere, when it aired the first teaser trailer for the new season.

Game of Thrones began shooting for season 2 this summer, with major casting announcements sporadically being announced or leaked. Fan-favorite characters like Melisandre (Carice van Houten), Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane​) Davos (Liam Cunningham) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) were among the most anticipated additions.

When the Emmy season rolled around, Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tyrion the Imp. The series had a further twelve prime-time nominations, and won a Creative Arts Emmy for its unique fantasy map title sequence.

The teaser trailer for season 2 isn't much, but considering the massive amount of post-production a fantasy series requires, that isn't surprising.

Take a gander at the Game Of Thrones Season 2 Teaser Trailer below:

The sole piece of spoken dialogue in the trailer, "The night is dark and full of terrors," is a mantra of the sun/fire religion that Melisandra serves. The religion and its symbolism are featured heavily in the rest of the book series on which the show is based. That said, the fiery imagery is appropriate.

No premiere date has been revealed for the second season, though a late spring debut is expected. The series debuted in late April, with ten one-hour episodes telling the story of the first book. Season 2 will likewise feature ten episodes, but producer David Benioff revealed at the 2011 Comic-Con panel that certain scenes from the third book will appear in season 2, and that from book 3 onward (if the episodes are ordered) the events are too dense for a single TV season.

It was also revealed that author and executive producer George R. R. Martin will be writing one of the final episodes himself. The episode in question features a major battle (commenters, no spoilers please) that will "break the bank." Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) will be directing.

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Game of Thrones returns to HBO in spring 2012. Expect more news (including footage) in the coming months.

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