These days, media content can take many shapes, and one of the greatest ones is TV shows on your television. Each series' cost may vary and even a single TV show episode cost may reach astronomical heights, like millions of dollars. Some can even take the title of the most expensive TV show! But which series has the highest-cost episodes?
When talking about the cost of the episodes, it is important to understand the main competitors that we often see on the screen of our televisions. Some have decades of TV show content behind their name. It is not strange to hear a lot about the HBO TV Max shows. One might say that their reputation precedes them, with them being crowned as the kings of television. Others might still be building a name for themselves, like those of Apple TV shows. Powerful in their own way, they are still building up their content, investing more and more into individual episodes. While others find themselves in the middle, like those of AMC TV shows, which have garnered a strong cult following, and the invested money is seen throughout every episode broadcast.
But all of the attention is given to the individual series and their most famous episodes. These days, costs are climbing and the quality is just getting better. With the Lord Of The Rings show budget reported to be the highest on television, every episode is reported to be quite expensive. With Game Of Thrones’ cost per episode being “dethroned” by the Lord Of The Rings series, the list below might provide you an opportunity to see how much money the biggest budget TV shows spend on individual series. And, if you think the cost meets the quality, upvote it - if not, comment below which episode outshined it overall!
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#1 The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power — $58 Million Per Episode
A long journey of adventure begins when the budget for it is set. The Rings of Power is the most costly television program to date. According to Prime Video, the total budget of the program is currently at $715 million, with $465 million going to the first eight episodes alone.
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42points
#2 Loki — $25 Million Per Episode
A large hit for the Marvel Universe, Loki was able to capitalize on the previous Avengers movies by not only telling a wonderful story but by also getting a large budget to use up. Starring two powerful actors and having great special effects, Loki was able to rack up quite a budget for every episode.
40points
#3 Stranger Things Season 4 — $30 Million Per Episode
With the series set in the American suburbs of the 1980s, for the setting to be felt, the budget had to reflect it. This most recent season of Stranger Things, one of their most expensive seasons to date, reportedly cost Netflix $30 million per episode. The visual effects most certainly consumed a large portion of the budget. Season 4 was also broken into two parts due to the intricate visual effects and their time-consuming nature.
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32points
#4 Hawkeye — $25 Million Per Episode
Having the same budget per episode as Loki, Disney pulled out quite a lot of money for the series to be made. By only having six episodes overall and no box office to use to track the success, one can only wonder if the budget met the quality that was intended to be delivered.
32points
#5 Wandavision — $25 Million Per Episode
Creating a fantasy using your head and engulfing many different Marvel characters required a budget to support such a venture. WandaVision, the second MCU Disney+ series that was originally planned, had a pre-production budget of $25 million for each episode. One of the first significant Disney+ and Marvel shows was also this one.
31points
#6 House Of The Dragon — $20 Million Per Episode
A spin-off of Game of Thrones, its budget per episode only got bigger as the network doubled down on this new series. The first season of this Game of Thrones spinoff reportedly reached a $200 million budget. Only $5 million more is spent on each episode of House of the Dragon than on the Game of Thrones season finale.
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30points
#7 The Falcon And The Winter Soldier — $25 Million Per Episode
Combining the mighty Falcon with the shadowy figure of the Winter Soldier, the series budget soon began to rival the very expensive Marvel movies. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier received a $25 million per episode budget from Marvel and Disney. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was planned to be the first MCU original show on Disney+ before the coronavirus outbreak halted production.
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26points
#8 The Pacific — $20 Million Per Episode
When Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are involved, you can be sure that the budget will skyrocket to explore a historical event fully. Set during World War II in the Pacific theater, the set designs alone added up to an enormous $20 million per episode.
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23points
#9 The Book Of Boba Fett — $15 Million Per Episode
Being set in the fantastic universe of Star Wars and following in the footsteps of The Mandalorian, this series required quite a large budget. With an assortment of costumes, expensive sets, and wonderful visuals, it is no wonder that the budget per episode reached such great heights.
22points
#10 The Mandalorian — $15 Million Per Episode
As far as Disney+, The Mandalorian was able to catch the attention not only of the many fans and new arrivals but also the eye of the budgeting team. An estimated $15 million was spent by Lucasfilm and Disney on this series.
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21points
#11 The Morning Show Seasons 1 And 2 — $15 Million Per Episode
When you want to come out big and strong, you have to spend quite a lot on the series you are developing, and Apple TV surely followed this saying. The first big series of Apple TV, when The Morning Show was first announced, it was given two seasons, therefore Apple reportedly invested $300 million in the show at launch.
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20points
#12 Band Of Brothers — $12 Million Per Episode
For a long time standing as the most expensive series on TV, Band Of Brothers is the masterpiece created by the world-famous Steven Spielberg. Set during World War II, this series hosted a powerful cast, realistic outfits, great action sequences, and beautiful sights to enjoy.
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20points
#13 The Crown Seasons 1 And 2 — $7 Million Per Episode
For the crown to lay heavily on the head, the budget must lay stronger. The Crown was the most costly Netflix original series at the time of its debut in 2016; it is said that Season 1's budget was £100 million. When it was discovered that Claire Foy received less compensation than Matt Smith for playing Queen Elizabeth II, information about the price of the first two seasons became public.
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19points
#14 See — $15 Million Per Episode
Sometimes the location is what contributed most to the series. See, filmed in the beautiful Vancouver nature, stars not only an A-list actor but also a powerful director behind the camera. With a budget of $15 million per episode, See is a stunning piece of media.
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19points
#15 The Witcher Season 1 — $10 Million Per Episode
When strange knights, in the form of a witcher, and witches with powerful magic are involved, you can expect quite a budget to follow them. Netflix is said to have spent between $70 million and $80 million on the first season of this popular show. Most of it went to the great visual effects.
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17points
#16 ER Seasons 4 To 6 — $13 Million Per Episode
With doctors being the heroes we all await, one needs to represent them correctly on the screen of the television. A record-breaking series that NBC wanted to keep under its umbrella, the average cost of each ER episode was under $2 million.
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17points
#17 Friends Season 10 — $10 Million Per Episode
While friends can be selected and chosen, the budget for them won't always come cheap. NBC agreed to pay Warner Bros. $10 million per episode, which was a hefty sum for a 30-minute comedy, to renew the show for one more season. The cast members' salaries, which at the time averaged $1 million per episode, were paid in part by the budgets.
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15points
#18 The Boys Season 1 — $11.2 Million Per Episode
What happens when you mix an anti-superhero show and TV? A need for a large budget to use. With $11.2 million per episode, most of the budget was spent on the superb action scenes seen in the series.
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14points
#19 The Get Down — $11 Million Per Episode
When you want to explore the rise of hip-hop artists in the 1970s, a huge budget might not always mean a good series. Having a high budget and being well received by the critics, it was too much of a risk for the rising network behind the production.
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14points
#20 Westworld — $10 Million Per Episode
While the Wild West is expensive on its own, by adding robots and fake-tech engineering, Westworld started to build up quite a bill. With the budget for every episode being so large, it's not so strange that the network behind it decided to stop its production after four strong seasons.
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12points