World's most expensive TV show costs $100M an episode, sets alone cost $1.3 billion; not Game of Thrones, The Last of Us
The world's most expensive TV series is expected to cost $4.2 billion to make, with each episode costing over $100 million, more than many Marvel films.
The most expensive film that has ever been released cost just over $440 million to make. That was Star Wars Episode VII, a film that included hours of CGI and boasted some big names. But as things stand currently, a TV series in production dwarfs the film's scale. The world's most expensive TV series will cost over $4 billion to make. (Also read: Netflix's most expensive film cost more than Avatar, The Avengers; was rejected by studios, ended up a $320 million flop)
The world's most expensive TV series
The reboot of the Harry Potter series is being touted as the most expensive TV show ever made. According to a report in Express, the show will have a production budget of £75 million per episode (over $100 million). With seven seasons of six episodes planned, the series' total production budget currently stands at an estimated £3.15 billion (over $4.2 billion). The most expensive series currently made is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which had a per-episode production budget of $62 million and a total cost of just over $1 billion for two seasons. The Harry Potter series is expected to surpass that by a huge margin.
The sets that cost over a billion dollars
A huge chunk of the cost of the new Harry Potter series is in a city that is being built for the shoot. The mini city, which the media has dubbed Potterville, has cost the Warner Bros Studios around £1 billion ($1.3 billion), according to a report in The Sun. The city will include all the major locations in the series, including Hogwarts, King's Cross Station, and even Privet Drive.
All about the Harry Potter series
Based on novels by JK Rowling, the upcoming series is described as a "more in-depth" adaptation of Rowling's books than the eight-part film franchise.
John Lithgow has been cast as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Other actors in the series are Janet McTeer, who will feature as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Nick Frost in the role of Rubeus Hagrid, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.
