10 of the most expensive TV shows of all time
For a long time, television was seen as the less prestigious cousin of film.
But now, TV is the place to be – and the astronomical budgets being thrown at many new series proves that.
Now, big-budget streamers are creating series with budgets rivalling even the biggest of blockbusters.
While exact production costs aren't always disclosed, these estimates – written in Aussie dollars – give a rough idea of just how much studios are willing to spend to create cinematic, binge-worthy TV experiences.
From surprising additions to, of course, Game of Thrones, here are some of the most expensive TV series of all time.
10. The Pacific - $348 million
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' 2010 war drama miniseries The Pacific is the oldest show on this list – showing just how much streaming has increased TV budgets, but also how huge this budget was at the time.
At its release, it was the most expensive miniseries ever created.
That brought good news for us Down Under: The Pacific was filmed in Australia and injected an estimated $134m into the local economy.
The series is a companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, following the United States Marine Corps's actions in the Pacific during WWII.
9. The Acolyte - $368 million
Disney+ released Star Wars: The Acolyte in 2024 – and the $368m series was swiftly cancelled.
Ouch.
It starred Amandla Stenberg are twins on both the Jedi and dark side of the Force.
After a strong premiere, viewership dropped off and was officially cancelled just two months later.
With eight episodes, averaging to $46m each, it will forever stand as a very expensive solo season of television.
8. Arcane - $400 million
Netflix's Arcane, based on video game League of Legends, is the most expensive animated series of all time.
With just 18 episodes across two seasons, the series cost $400 million – that's about $22m per ep!
The show primarily focuses on characters voiced by Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Purnell and was met with critical acclaim.
In fact, Season 1 became Netflix's highest-rated series within a week of its premiere and won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.
Safe to say, it was worth the splurge!
7. Euphoria - $441 million
Euphoria is the controversial high school drama that took the world by storm – and it sure did cost a lot to get there!
The Zendaya-led series premiered in 2019 with a $264m first season and it's cost only increased as 2022's Season 2 cost an estimated $176m.
Filming for the show's long awaited Season 3 finally got underway in January 2025, so we'll have to see where it lands on the list once those costs come in... but it won't come cheap.
In February 2023, the Los Angeles Times reported Zendaya had negostiated a pay bump from $800k per episode to $1.6m for the third season. Not bad, huh?
6. Citadel - $480 million
Citadel Season 1 cost $480m – and there are only six episodes!
The series stars Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden as spy agents, whose memories were wiped after a job went wrong – until eight years later, when an old colleague needs their help.
It premiered in 2023 to mixed reviews, but was picked up for a second season before its release.
That means its cost is only set to increase!
5. House of the Dragon - $575 million
HBO gave its highly anticipated Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon a $320m budget for its first 10-episode season.
The series, following the blonde-haired, dragon wielding Targaryens, filled the void left by GoT's ending for many fans and became an award-winning hit.
HBO then saved costs by cutting the second season from 10 episodes to just eight, but House of the Dragon already ranks as one of the most expensive TV shows ever made.
That's the cost of dragons, we guess!
4. Stranger Things - $740 million
Netflix spent an estimated $48m per episode on Stranger Things Season 4, making it the streamer's most expensive original by far.
It's also a far cry from Season 1's modest $6m budget per episode, bumped to $8m for Season 2.
It makes sense, as Eleven and the kids from Hawkins, Indiana delve deeper into the Upside Down, the series needs a lot more special effects.
Will the series be bumped up this list when the long-awaited fifth and final season is released? We'll have to wait and see... but we have a sneaking suspicion that yes, it definitely will!
2. Andor - $1 billion
In December 2024, Disney revealed that the cost of Star Wars series Andor had ballooned to just over AU$1 billion.
The series, which will release its second and final season in April 2025, is the most expensive Star Wars series from the streamer (and there have been a lot!).
Set five years before the first events of A New Hope, it stars Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, a thief-turned-revolutionary.
Thankfully, its massive bill is worth it as the series debuted to instant fanfare and critical acclaim.
1. The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power - $1.6 billion
In 2017, streamers went to war in an attempt to aquire the television rights to The Lord of the Rings from the Tolkien estate.
Battling other companies like Netflix and HBO for the rights, Amazon took the negotiations so seriously that then-CEO Jeff Bezos was personally involved.
It eventually secured the rights for a whopping $400 million, pledging a further $1.6 billion to a five-season series.
This makes The Rings of Power the most expensive TV series of all time by a huge margin.
Set thousands of years before the The Hobbit and LOTR tales we're more familiar with, The Rings of Power has so far released two seasons to mixed critical response, with season three currently in development.
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