The cost per episode of Game of Thrones could literally buy you a fleet of dragons

Crikey

Words - C. Molly Smith

From the editors of HelloGiggles

Take a look at the production value and it’s as clear as day: Game of Thrones season 8 has to be hella expensive to make. But what’s a little bit harder to determine at a glance is exactly how much we’re talking here. Well, prepare to have your mind blown.

Because this drama really puts the BIG in big budget.

According to Variety, the final season of Game of Thrones will cost $15 million per episode. That's about £11 million PER EPISODE.

'The $15 million-plus price tag is due in part to a shooting schedule that more resembles that of a feature film than an episodic series,' the outlet explains. 'But Thrones is an anomaly.'

For perspective, the show cost about $6 million (£4.5 million) per episode at its start — which is apparently pretty standard for HBO dramas. Even so, we once again find ourselves thinking about all the places we'd travel, and all the winter coats we could buy…

Variety basically attributes the cost of the show to its narrative demands. For example, it expanded to four continents and would have multiple production units working at once.

Then, there’s Game of Thrones’ financial worth. It brings home big money via merchandising lines, foreign sales, and so on. Not to mention, it’s drawn a lot of attention to HBO Now. In effect, a lot is spent on the show in return.

But that’s not all: This $15 million per episode number reportedly makes the upcoming season of Game of Thrones the most expensive yet.

Honestly, we’d expect nothing less from the final season of Game of Thrones. And while we’re still catching our breath after seeing this price tag, we’re taking this to mean that a lot is being poured into effects for an epic battle between a fire dragon and ice dragon, and the living and dead. And we’re down with that.

Game of Thrones Season 8 is expected to air sometime in late 2018 or early 2019.