10 Most Expensive TV Shows Of All Time
TV show costs have risen in the last 20 years, here are the most expensive to date.
It is no surprise that in the age of streaming, TV budgets are higher than ever before. TV has become a more cinematic medium, with money being put into shows to give them higher production values, as well as being used to have bigger names appear.
Shows like Game of Thrones have pushed the boundaries of what is possible on the small screen and have created episodes that have blown away audiences. Sometimes this can be in a show's favour, with shows like Thrones and Westworld attracting massive success and large followings. Other times these budgets can be a detriment to a show and leave it being too costly against its viewership.
With streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, these budgets grew even more and these days it is commonplace that a big show will cost millions of dollars per episode to make. This isn't an entirely new phenomenon though, as big shows of the late 20th century found themselves spending the big bucks to make successful shows with actors who had become household names because of it.
Nowadays though, it isn't just how much money is being sunk into these shows, it is what the money is being spent on. Bigger sets and more effects are making TV a far bigger and more expensive medium than ever before.
10. Sense8 - $9 Million Per Episode
Sense8 followed the story of 8 strangers around the globe who discover that they can communicate telepathically with each other. Their stories wove together as they discovered they were being tracked by a shady organisation. This allowed for a show that followed 8 incredibly human stories alongside the supernatural conspiracy that underpinned the whole show. It seemed a new success for The Wachowskis, who seemed to be back to Matrix form as the show first came out in 2015 as part of Netflix's slate of original content.
The show was filmed all on location, flying the actors around the globe to film parts on Germany, India, Iceland and more as well as paying for filming permits in all locations. This drove up cost on the show, not to mention the cost of the Wachowskis to direct the whole thing.
Sense8 attracted a cult following in its first season with its supernatural premise and cast of interesting and diverse characters. Unfortunately, it lost viewers in the second season and couldn't justify its $9 million an episode budget. The show was cancelled by Netflix in 2018, with fans never finding out what happened in the end, or the truth behind why it was all happening.