Is House of the Dragon More Expensive Than Game of Thrones? Budgets Compared

Game of Thrones will go down in history as one of the most ambitious projects of our time.

The total budget of the show was almost $1.5 billion, and the expenditure was justified: HBO earned $171 billion in the first season, and profits have grown steadily, with the final, eighth season earning $525 million. In the eight years since the show debuted, the network has attracted 50 million new viewers.

The show has become HBO's most popular project (previously occupied by The Sopranos ), making Westeros and its inhabitants a gold mine for the network, as well as for George Martin.

How Much Did the First Seasons of GoT Cost?

In 2009, filming began on the pilot episode of Game of Thrones, for which HBO allocated $10 million. This was a large sum: in 2014, an average of $2 million was spent on an episode.

However, the pilot never made it to the screens – according to the showrunners, they made several mistakes, which is why the episode turned out to be ridiculous and boring. Lena Headey, who played Cersei, recalled that she looked like a Vegas showgirl in furs and voluminous hair.

The network again allocated $10 million for the new pilot and gave the project the green light after the presentation. The first season cost $60 million to make, with one of the biggest expenses being the creation of a realistic world.

What Was Game of Thrones’ Budget for Later Seasons?

By the sixth season, the average budget for an episode was $6 million, with the exception of the penultimate episode of the second season. It was devoted to the Battle of the Blackwater.

After much persuasion, HBO allocated an additional $2 million for filming. The $8 million per episode budget proved to be a record for Game of Thrones until the start of the sixth season, in which an episode cost the network an average of $10 million.

Growing dragons, White Walkers, and the impending Battle of Westeros added to the complexity of production. As a result, the cost of an episode in the eighth and final season rose to $15 million.

What is House of the Dragon 's Budget Per Episode?

House of the Dragon is costing the streaming service more than the platform's original hit. There are currently 15 episodes airing, each with a budget of $20 million.

Considering that House of the Dragon has become one of HBO's most-watched series (the first episode was watched by 10 million viewers), such a production cost makes sense. The budget, in turn, is determined by the large amount of computer graphics needed to create realistic dragons in the fantasy world of Westeros.