Like it or lump it, the eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones saga was an astounding achievement.
Thought season 8 left many disappointed, few can deny the show’s visual effects and overall spectacle, with “The Long Night” and “The Bells” being particularly good examples of best-in-class cinematography and VFX. It’s a credit to the production team, really, that Game of Thrones season 8 still felt entertaining and (overly) satisfying even in the midst of such intense action scenes, most of which were covered in great detail during HBO’s special documentary.
But those visual effects don’t come cheap; neither do the intricate costumes or the practical sets. Indeed, as screenwriter Zack Stentz revealed on the Fatman Beyond podcast, the final Game of Thrones season 8 budget may have been much higher than we initially thought – like within the ballpark of $240 million.
I heard from a fairly reliable source how much the last season of Game of Thrones cost and it was a lot more than reported. What I heard it was something like $240 million for six episodes. It’s like ‘Oh my God, that’s so much!’ but that’s less than Justice League. Which piece of entertainment did more for Warner Brothers coffers in the last two years: Justice League or the last season of Game of Thrones? Boom, Game of Thrones…better investment.
That’s… expensive. Sure enough, A-list actors like Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau all earned north of $300,000 per episode of Game of Thrones season 8, so it’s not too difficult to see how the show’s budget spiraled beyond all expectations.
Previous reports indicated that each of the six episodes cost $15 million, though it would seem HBO had to allocate extra resources to help see Game of Thrones over the finish line. And with a prequel series already in the early stages of development, it’s clear the Powers That Be will be milking this cash cow for many more years to come.
