‘The Walking Dead’ vs ‘Game of Thrones’: Lead actors’ salaries per episode comparison

“Game of Thrones” at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards — Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (L), Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harrington of HBO's "Game of Thrones" pose backstage with their award for Oustanding Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

As a TV show, AMC’s “The Walking Dead” isn’t really far behind the HBO series “Game of Thrones” when it comes to popularity. Unfortunately for the cast of the comic book-based show, that doesn’t mean that they are also close to what the dragon-loving actors and actresses of the epic fantasy series are making financially.

According to a new report, the stars of “The Walking Dead” are being paid way less compared to their “Game of Thrones” counterparts. Uproxx reports that the two leads of the AMC show, Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), were earning US$90,000 (AU$119,000) and US$80,000 (AU$106,000) respectively per episode before the series’ seventh season. And it’s pretty safe to assume that the other cast members of “The Walking Dead” make even less than those two.

Meanwhile, lead actors of “Game of Thrones” have been earning a whole lot more per episode. According to CheatSheet, Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) were paid close to US$300,000 (AU$397,000) per episode in season 6. And it gets better, as the lead actors of the show are also bound to get more money in the seventh and eighth season.

Each of the above-mentioned cast members of “Game of Thrones” are set to earn a massive US$1.1 million (AU$ 1.45 million) per episode for season 7 and season 8 due to new contracts. Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus were also able to renegotiate their contracts for the seventh and eighth season of “The Walking Dead,” but they’re still nowhere near “Game of Thrones” level. Lincoln and Reedus are set to make US$550,000 (AU$728,000) per episode for season 7 and US$650,000 (AU$860,000) per episode for season 8.

“Game of Thrones” remains as the world’s most popular TV show. The HBO series is the most pirated TV series for the fifth year in a row. “The Walking Dead” is right behind at second place.

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