There was a collective rejoice when Game of Thrones fans heard Emmy-award winning director Miguel Sapochnik would be returning to direct as much as half of the show's final season. But that's not the only thing fans have to celebrate: HBO is also upping the budget for the eighth season of its insanely popular show.
According to a new report, the final six episodes of Game of Thrones will cost at least $15 million EACH.
To put this in perspective, as of recent, ultra-expensive TV programming tends to cost approximately $10 million per episode. (That's how much Netflix paid to produce The Crown and The Get Down, and about how the amount HBO shelled out for each GoT episode over the past few years.)
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Now, the real question is, will viewers reap the benefits of an increased budget? Well, for one, it likely means elongated run times. It has been reported that all of the final six episodes will be feature-length.
In addition, the series' sound designer Paula Fairfield said in a recent interview that more dragon scenes can be expected in this season. The special effects these intricate scenes call for will certainly be costly.
It's rumored that the final episodes will begin to be filmed this month, but a start date has not yet been revealed. If season eight maintains the same production-to-broadcast timeline as the series' previous two seasons, the show could premiere as early as July 2018.
So, for now, "Thronies" will just have to sit tight for their beloved show to return one last time.
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