Top 10 Most Expensive TV Series Ever Made

Amazon has already paid around $250 million for the rights to Tolkien's world. On top of that came an extremely expensive first season of approximately $465 million. Add up multiple seasons and the total cost comes to around one billion dollars.

What started as a modest adventure full of 80s nostalgia grew into a very expensive gold mine for Netflix. In later seasons, costs for Stranger Things shot through the roof, with a budget exceeding $30 million per episode. That astronomical amount disappeared not only in the impressive special effects of the Upside Down, but also in the significantly increased salaries of the now world-famous cast. With five seasons under its belt, the total price tag is estimated at an astonishing $900 million.

For six seasons, this expensive series followed the British royal family with an almost obsessive attention to detail. Everything had to be right: from the smallest diamonds on the tiaras to the authentic locations that formed the backdrop for the royal drama. Add to that the expensive costumes and an ever-changing star cast, and you understand why the money tap was open for years. The total production costs? Those exploded to a royal $650 million .

It is no secret that Disney is digging deep into its pockets for the Star Wars franchise, but at Andor the money tap really opened wide. Although the series is back in the books after two seasons, no dollar has been spared. With 24 episodes and a level of polish that is the envy of the average Hollywood blockbuster, Disney paid a staggering 645 million dollars.

In the early days, the costs for GoT were still relatively manageable, but towards the grand finale the budget completely exploded. Giant battles that took weeks of filming, lifelike computer dragons and episodes that felt like a night at the movies brought the total price tag to a staggering $630 million.

Mandalorian put Disney+ on the map as a serious streaming service with a bang. With an average price tag of about $15 million per episode and three seasons under the counter, the total bill rose to about $360 million. In addition, groundbreaking new recording technology was developed to bring the galaxy to life. That made for stunning pictures, but of course also significantly increased the costs.

This Game of Thrones prequal had to prove that HBO is still the undisputed king of the fantasy genre. The ambitions were sky-high and that is reflected in the figures: the first season alone cost almost 200 million dollars. Because the second season also falls into the same expensive category, the counter has now reached 400 million dollars.

An astronomical sum of approximately $230 million was thrown at it for just one season. That amounts to an insane $29 million per episode. But despite that gigantic investment and the impressive images, the public did not appear to be interested. The result? The series was mercilessly killed after that one season.

The spiritual successor to classics like Band of Brothers and The Pacific, and it shows in everything. A staggering $250 million was spent on just nine episodes. Not a cent was left unused: the budget literally flew through building historic aircraft, filming spectacular air battles and recreating the Second World War down to the smallest detail.

This project started out ambitious, but quickly turned into one of the most headache-inducing missteps in Amazon's history. It is estimated that around $300 million was spent on the first season alone. That astronomical amount did not just come about; endless reshoots and chaos behind the scenes drove costs to unprecedented levels.