One of the most successful TV series ever is Game of Thrones. Definitely, in terms of rating and fan base, it has crossed many marks and the actors enjoy a superstar status.
With a perfect dose of ice, fire, and dragons the winter is finally on the television screens and we all must have wondered how much do the characters get paid. Game of Thrones broke the record for budget per episode for its sixth season when, according to Entertainment Weekly, they spent more than US$10 million each episode—excluding the huge cast salaries.
But if rumors are believed then the actor’s salaries are raised up higher ahead of season 7 and also the contracts are extended for the upcoming season 8. They actually have a tier system of payment. So let’s have a look at the system.
Tier A
This includes obviously the main lead actors and is the highest paid ones. Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ( Jaime Lannister) and Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) are included in the list. They have earned close to $300,000 an episode in the season 5 and 6. But the price has risen up in the season 7 drastically!
They earn 16.66 crores for every episode.
What? Really? But as the number of episodes gets lessened by each season so definitely the overall pay must remain the same. For example, Season 7 will have 7 episodes and 8 will have 6 episodes!
Tier B
These are the people in secondary roles. Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Aidan Gillen (Petyr Baelish), Gwendolyn Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Conleth Hill (Lord Varys), Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane), and Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) are included in the list.
They earn almost 7.05 crores every single episode.
Though Arya is seen as one of the star characters, her age must be a factor for her inclusion in Tier B.
Tier C
All the other secondary characters are included here. The not so daily characters like Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Isaac Hampstead Wright (Bran Stark) and John Bradley West (Samwell Tarly) earn almost 5 lakhs per episode!
This is the most expensive payments done ever in a TV series but before this, the renowned favorite Friends actors too took 1 million dollars for the final episode.
Now you are wishing that why aren’t you a part of the cast in Game Of Thrones!
When you know there are only two eps left in #GameofThrones7 . #WinterIsHere pic.twitter.com/x3A4HTXIk8
— Dina (@heydinacarla) August 14, 2017