13 Priciest TV Shows Ever: ‘The Rings of Power,’ ‘Loki,’ ‘The Crown’ & More
What happens when the latest Golden Age of Television meets the Second Age of Tolkien history? For starters, Amazon opens its wallet wide to make Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power the most expensive series in TV history.
Researchers at VPN Overview, a resource for cybersecurity and online privacy, analyzed two decades’ worth of TV shows to find the priciest series per episode — and Prime’s acclaimed LOTR series wins by a long shot.
“It is really interesting to see the great difference between the outstanding budget made available for the production of The Rings of Power and the others, as between first and second alone in this list there is a difference of $35,000,000,” a VPN Overview spokesperson said, commenting on the findings.
“This might depend on the expectations both producers and the public have for the show, as it has a legacy to uphold, since the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies are among the most loved in the world. It also shows that as the battle for subscribers continues between the major streaming platforms, Amazon is happy to spend big money to compete with its rivals.”
While Amazon lays claim to the top spot, Disney+, HBO, and Netflix monopolize the rest of the list. In particular, five Disney+ shows are tied for second place, with Disney paying big money to bring Marvel and Star Wars shows to the small screen. Scroll down to see the ranking, including the two five-way ties.
The Crown
$13 million/episode
With a $130 million price tag for the first season, this Netflix show ranked as the most expensive television production ever at the time, according to The Daily Beast. But John Lithgow told the site that the show “didn’t feel like a first-class production,” since the cast and crew filmed “in drafty, old, rundown, superannuated stately homes outside of London.”
Game of Thrones
$15 million/episode — tie
The budget for this HBO smash hit more than doubled during its run, going from around $6 million per Season 1 episode to around $15 million per Season 8 episode, according to Variety.
The Book of Boba Fett
$15 million/episode — tie
Screen Rant speculates that this Star Wars series needed its multi-million-dollar budget for its extensive sets, its alien makeup, and its SFX work.
The Mandalorian
$15 million/episode — tie
Disney+’s other series about a Mandalorian bounty hunter had the same budget, although Deadline reported earlier this year that the Book of Boba Fett Season 1 finale attracted 36 percent more viewers than the Mandalorian Season 2 finale.
The Witcher
$15 million/episode — tie
The budget for this fantasy series went from $10 million/episode to $15 million/episode between the first and second seasons, We Got This Covered reports. Meanwhile, star Henry Cavill earned $400,000 per first-season episode, according to Variety.
Watchmen
$15 million/episode — tie
At $15 million a pop, this HBO limited series would have cost $135 million for its nil-season run. By contrast, the 2009 big-screen Watchmen adaptation apparently cost slightly less, with an estimated budget of $130 million.
House of the Dragon
$20 million/episode
Looks like this Game of Thrones prequel series spent less than a dollar per viewer: HBO renewed House of the Dragon in August after more than 20 million people checked out the series premiere, per CNBC.
Hawkeye
$25 million/episode — tie
In 2019, a source told The Hollywood Reporter that Hawkeye and two other Marvel series on Disney+ — The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Wandavision — had budgets of $25 million per episode.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
$25 million/episode — tie
The Marvel shows’ price tags were part of Disney+’s original content budget of less than $1 billion for 2020, per THR.
WandaVision
$25 million/episode — tie
Screen Rant notes that WandaVision’s $225-million budget for its nine-episode season may pale in comparison to that of the Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame but is still “astronomically high” for a TV show.
Loki
$25 million/episode — tie
In a review of this Marvel show, SFGate’s Dan Gentile observed that it “looks and feels more like a spectacular movie,” thanks in part to its reported $25 million/episode budget. “They say that money can’t buy happiness, but in this case it sure can buy fun,” Gentile added.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
$25 million/episode — tie
Looks like Disney+’s bet on the Jedi mentor paid off: Whereas The Book of Boba Fett had a finale audience 36 percent greater than that of The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale, the finale audience of Obi-Wan Kenobi bested Boba Fett by 20 percent, Deadline reports.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
$60 million/episode
Last year, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Prime Video’s take on the world of J.R.R. Tolkien would cost Amazon around NZ $650 million — or about $465 million USD — for the first season alone. “This is fantastic, it really is,” Stuart Nash, New Zealand minister for economic development and tourism, said on RNZ’s Morning Report, per THR. “This will be the largest television series ever made.”
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