These 'GoT' Actors Made Enough Money From Season 8 to Fill the Iron Bank
Game of Thrones may be ending, but that doesn’t mean our interest in the show has to stop when it leaves HBO. In fact, we encourage you to stay steeped in the world of GoT, especially with a new documentary about the final season coming up and a prequel series on the horizon. But if you’re looking for some GoT information that’s more off the menu, might we suggest checking out the season eight salaries for the GoT lead actors and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss?
As we approach the end to the hit HBO series, we thought we would look back at how each actor’s paycheck has changed over the years. As the show became the cultural phenomenon we know today, the salaries of its cast members have spiked. Who’s the highest-paid GoT cast member? How much have their salaries changed over time? And who has the highest net worth? We try to answer those questions ahead. We don’t know who will sit on the Iron Throne at the end of GoT‘s eighth and final season, but from the looks of it, the GoT cast is doing just fine — throne or not.
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Emilia Clarke
Salary: $500,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $13 million
Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen (aka Khaleesi, aka the Mother of Dragons, aka the Breaker of Chains), is one of the five lead cast members on GoT who negotiated a $500,000-per-episode salary for its seventh and eighth seasons, according to Variety. With seven episodes in season seven and six episodes in season six, the deal has netted Clarke an impressive $6,500,000 for the show’s final two seasons, making her net worth around $13 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Along with GoT, Clarke also has campaigns with brands like Dior Jewelry and Dolce & Gabbana, as well as roles in films like Me Before You (2016) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), which only rises her stock even more.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Salary: $500,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $16 million
Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, is also one of the show’s five lead actors who is paid a $500,000-per-episode salary for GoT‘s final two seasons. Like Clarke, his pay for the final two seasons is an impressive $6,500,000, making his net worth around $16 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. In addition to his Game of Thrones salary, much of Coster-Waldau’s net worth comes from roles in films like 2017’s Shot Caller and 3 Things (which he also executive produced), as well as L’Oréal Paris’s men’s products.
Peter Dinklage
Salary: $500,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $15 million
As one of the leads of GoT, Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, is included in the $500,000-per-episode deal for the final two seasons. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his $6,500,000 pay for GoT’ seventh and eighth seasons is what accounts for his $15 million net worth. The only cast member to have won an Emmy (in fact—he has three), Dinklage’s impressive net worth comes from roles in films like Avengers: Infinity War, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Angry Birds Movie, along with his envious GoT salary.
Kit Harington
Salary: $500,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $12 million
Harington, who plays Jon Snow, is often seen as the face of Game of Thrones, which is why it makes sense that he’s included in the show’s $500,000-per-episode deal for its final two seasons. The result? An impressive $6,500,000. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Harington’s net worth is $12 million. Along with Game of Thrones, the actor has starred in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. He has also been the face of Jimmy Choo’s menswear, Nissan Infiniti and Dolce & Gabbana, along with his GoT costar, Emilia Clarke.
Lena Headey
Salary: $500,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $9 million
Headey’s $9 million net worth might be lower than some of her cast members, but it’s nothing to be underestimated. The actor, who plays Cersei Lannister, is included in the show’s $500,000-per-episode deal for season seven and eight, making her salary for the past two seasons an impressive $6,500,000. Along with GoT, Headey has starred in Fighting with My Family, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. She has also done a voiceover for a Mercedes A-Class campaign.
Maisie Williams
Salary: ~$150,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $6 million
Williams, who plays Arya Stark, is in what The Hollywood Reporter calls the “B” tier of Game of Thrones, meaning that her per-episode salary is less than those in the “A” tier, who are the five actors above. It’s also unclear what Williams’s salary was for season seven and eight. It was last reported by Celebrity Net Worth that her pay was $150,000 per episode, but that was before the negotiations for season seven and eight, which is what led to the “A” tier’s salary increase from $300,000 per episode for $500,000 episode for the final two seasons. Along with GoT, Williams has also starred in Doctor Who, as well as 20th Century Fox’s 2019 X-Men film, The New Mutants, which accounts for her $6 million net worth. Williams also has her own social media app, Daisie, with film producer, Dom Santree. The two also have a producing company called Daisy Chain Productions.
Sophie Turner
Salary: ~$150,000 per episode
Estimated Net Worth: $6 million
Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, joins Williams in the “B” tier of Game of Thrones. (The tier also included Natalie Dormer, who played Margaery Tyrell, who was killed off in season six.) It hasn’t been confirmed what Turner is making for season seven and season eight. But for the past seasons, she was making the same salary as her “B” tier costars: $150,000 per episode. Of course, that was before negotiations for seasons seven and eight, so we expect a significant pay raise for Turner to explain her impressive $6 million net worth, according to Celebrity Net Worth. (Her “A” tier costars went from $300,000 to $500,000 for the final two seasons.) Along with GoT, Turner has also starred in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix (in which she plays the lead). She is also the face of Wella hair care.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Net Worths: $18-22 million (Benioff) and $12-22 million (Weiss)
Benioff and Weiss are the multi-hyphenate masterminds behind GoT. You may have missed their cameos on GoT season eight as uncredited Wildlings, but this duo’s footprints on this show aren’t limited to acting. In addition to being showrunners, Benioff and Weiss have credits for writing, directing and producing GoT. It’s unclear how much Benioff and Weiss respectively earned for each GoT season, especially the eighth and final season. However, sites like TVOvermind, The Wealth Record and Celebrity Net Worth estimate that Benioff’s net worth is somewhere between $18 and 22 million while Weiss’s net worth is somewhere in the $12 to 22 million range. Those jaw-dropping net worths are not only courtesy of GoT, but also from the other credits Benioff and Weiss have racked up over the course of their monumental careers in film and television. Benioff’s work appearing on films and TV shows like 25th Hours, the Will Smith-starrer Gemini Man and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Weiss’s past TV credits include It’s Always Sunny and The Specials. We expect Benioff and Weiss’s net worths will be increasing in the near future once they get their upcoming Star Wars film off the ground.
This post was originally published on Stylecaster.
This article was updated in May 2019.
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