Making a TV show can cost a lot of money. Between paying for A-list actors, hiring the best crew members, and creating convincing sets (with practical effects or otherwise!) the costs can escalate quickly. Here are the fifteen most expensive TV shows ever made!
Friends
Friends wasn’t an expensive show to make at first, otherwise NBC wouldn’t have greenlit it. However, as it became a bigger and bigger hit, the six charismatic actors who starred in it started demanding some pretty hefty paychecks. By the final season, Friends cost around $10 million per episode!
The Crown
Period pieces cost a lot of money. In the case of The Crown, creating believable recreations of major events from British history has cost an average of around $13 million per episode. Making a show look this good while staying historically accurate doesn’t just happen on a shoestring budget!
See
Apple TV+’s Jason Momoa-led fantasy series See was expensive, costing around $15 million per episode. Part of that, of course, was hiring talent like Jason Momoa. However, another major contributing factor was the show’s choice of location. The crew emptied a lake in Vancouver to create the post-apocalyptic village and filled it back up once they wrapped filming.
The Morning Show
Interestingly, Jennifer Aniston contributes significantly to the high cost of two shows on this list: Friends and The Morning Show. Between Aniston and costar Reese Witherspoon, the Apple TV+ series costs around $15 million per episode! That’s surprising when you consider how mundane the show’s setting is. The cost is almost all wrapped up in star power.
The Last of Us
The big-budget video game adaptation The Last of Us cost some $15 million per episode. The show features all-star talent, including leading man Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller. There’s also the astonishing visuals, including the believable and scary fungus-infected zombies that threaten the protagonists.
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones brought the fantasy genre back to the small screen in impressive fashion. The popular adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels cost HBO around $15 million per episode, but the cost was more than offset by the show’s extremely strong commercial performance.
The Mandalorian
The hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian has been a massive pop culture phenomenon for the Star Wars franchise. Still, it’s not cheap to create alien worlds and believable deep-space adventures, and the show has cost around $15 million per episode so far!
The Sandman
The Sandman, based on the comics series of the same name, has been a huge hit for Netflix. It’s also been hugely expensive, to the tune of $15 million per episode. It’s not easy to make a visually believable world of gods and dreams, so the price tag is far from surprising.
One Piece (Live Action)
The unusually good live action adaptation of One Piece cost $17 million per episode in its first season. The show uses practical sets and effects to realize a fantastic, pirate-themed world, complete with functional ships and lots of great-looking fight choreography. It’s a minor miracle that the team managed to translate the manic energy of the original anime to live action.
The Pacific
The 2010 World War II show The Pacific was renowned for its visuals, including its decision to shoot on location on islands that were pivotal to the battle between the US and Japan in the Pacific Theater. The show cost an astonishing $20 million per episode due in no small part to its focus on historical accuracy.
House of the Dragon
Game of Thrones and its spinoffs have always been expensive to make. Bringing a fantasy world to life requires sets, costumes, weapons, and visual effects on a much grander scale than something that uses existing objects and settings. The prequel series House of the Dragon has been no exception, costing around $20 million per episode—so far.
WandaVision
WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ first foray into streaming TV, saw them spare no expense. At the cost of $25 million per episode, it’s clear that everything from the VFX to the A-list Hollywood talent on set cost the company a pretty penny.
Stranger Things
Netflix’s massive horror hit Stranger Things is expensive in a lot of ways. For one thing, it’s a fantasy-adjacent series that needs lots of impressive VFX and CG shots. For another, its young cast is getting very pricey, with Millie Bobby Brown alone contributing significantly to the payroll costs. Each episode now costs an average of around $30 million for Netflix.
Read More: 10 Shows to Watch if You Liked House of the Dragon
Citadel
If you thought those other shows were expensive, hold tight. The Amazon Prime series Citadel cost the company $50 million per episode. Unfortunately, all that money doesn’t add up to a compelling series. It’s bland, derivative, and doesn’t have anything to show for its outrageous budget.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
At an eye-watering cost of $58 million per episode, the truly abysmal Amazon prequel to The Lord of the Rings has now eclipsed the budget of Peter Jackson’s original trilogy. It’s mind-boggling that Amazon has spent so much money on this show when it’s such a boring, hum-drum piece of glacially paced television that adds nothing of value to the long-running Lord of the Rings franchise.
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