Game of Thrones cast members earned so much in season 8; wont have to earn for generations

Game of Thrones is about to end and with that, it will leave behind actors and actresses with a huge value factor, not just quantitatively but qualitatively also. Though most have already achieved several accolades by acting in iconic movies, the question that will stay in almost everybody's mouth will be - So, how rich and famous have the cast become?

Stories of actors who started out with nothing and have now become very popular is a very common sight in the Hollywood industry. One of the earlier examples from the 1990s that became this big was the F.R.I.E.N.D.S cast. A simple search on Google would reveal how Anniston, Cox and Kudrow were raking in more than $1 billion per episode. Sure, the industry has financially expanded and has exponentially expanded in terms of content that is coming out almost every year. Most fail and those who succeed gets to earn in billions and sometimes even the trillions.

Now, as far as Game of Thrones is concerned, the only cast member who is earning way more money than any other cast member is Emilia Clarke. Vanity Fair did an article about the GoT cast members earning figures back in 2017 and it was found out that Kit Harrington, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau were raking in $500,000 every episode. Later, the next year, Express dugout that each of the actors was earning more than $2.5 million. Emilia Clarke had a net value of $13 million. But, the funny part is she doesn't have the highest value. As per Celebrity Net Worth, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau had the highest face value at $16 million. He was followed by Peter Dinklage at $15 million.

The strategy that HBO has been following for the past few years has seemed to pay-off with what is being considered as the "most successful scripted programme" ever. By releasing their content on the internet, sure HBO faces the chances of losing more money that will forever remain untapped, thanks to piracy. But that hasn't caused much harm to the company. GOT, as a franchise has become so valuable that right now, almost any other TV series online seems to be small compared to it.

As media analyst Mike Raia told Express, "Cable network HBO is breaking the bank to ensure its most successful scripted programme ever goes out with the kind of flourish fans all over the world have come to expect." And the way they have taken care of the actors in the process have surpassed those of the 1990s sitcom heyday. Even Big Bang theory actors get paid $900,000 thousand per episode on an average.

And going by the trend, it remains to be seen the next big show that HBO will come up with which will be able to generate this much money.