5 Most Expensive TV Series in History, Ranked by Cost Per Episode
Of the five projects on this list, three spots are taken up by Marvel shows – can you guess which ones they are?
The streaming race has led to the emergence of a new type of TV series – blockbuster shows. Their budgets are not only comparable, but sometimes exceed the average cost of a blockbuster movie.
We recalled the most expensive series in history. Important note: all budgets are given taking into account inflation.
5. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
Cost Per Episode: $27M
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was one of Marvel's few truly successful experiments. The sitcom-style show revolves around Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters, who receives her famous brother's radioactive blood in a car accident.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law turned out to be one of Marvel's most expensive series. About $225 million was invested in Season 1 – such a budget is explained by the abundance of special effects. For comparison: Moon Knight cost about $147.9 million and Secret Invasion – $212 million.
4. WandaVision
Cost Per Episode: $29M
Winner of numerous film awards, as well as an Emmy and Directors Guild of America Award nominee, the miniseries WandaVision is the first recognized success of the Disney+ streaming service.
The transformation of Scarlet Witch into an antagonist has not been universally embraced, but compared to other Marvel streaming projects, WandaVision seems like a surprisingly cohesive series with a truly unusual concept.
Each episode of WandaVision cost $29 million, and the entire season cost around $225 million, which is no less than the budget of a full-length MCU movie.
3. Loki Season 1
Cost Per Episode: $29M
Loki is one of Marvel's most popular antagonists, so it is not surprising that after the official end of the fourth phase of the MCU, Loki, as the main fan favorite, received his own solo show.
Like WandaVision, each episode of the first season of Loki cost $29 million, however, due to the fact that WandaVision had nine episodes and Loki Season 1 had six, the total budget of Loki is lower – about $ 150 million.
2. Stranger Things Season 4
Cost Per Episode: $32M
Stranger Things is the most important show of the post-Game of Thrones era: a super-popular and highly anticipated project that turned little-known actors into A-list stars.
The show's budget grew from season to season. For example, the debut season was only $7 million per episode, but by the finale, everything had changed dramatically.
First, the number of CGI scenes increased dramatically, and second, the actors became more recognizable and therefore more highly paid, with $32 million spent per episode on the latest fourth season.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1
Cost Per Episode: $62M
The new adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, titled The Rings of Power, has been in development since 2017, and filming took two years. About eight hundred people were involved in the production – a huge scale even by modern standards.
The adaptation of Tolkien's novels by Peter Jackson became one of the biggest commercial successes in the film industry. It is therefore not surprising that the incredible sum of $465 million was allocated for the creation of the TV prequel – this is almost twice as much as the entire Peter Jackson trilogy combined.
