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2022 has been the year of some of the most expensive titles. In an age when high-value productions from Marvel Studios have practically taken over the box office, and visually stunning content is highly sought after, all the production houses have begun pouring a ton of money into their projects.
From the most expensive TV series ever made to the highest budget production from the streaming giant Netflix, 2022 has had it all. While films have always had a considerably higher production budget than television series, 2022 has blurred that line considerably. Some of the series released this year have been as expensive as some high-budget films.
House of the Dragon, Stranger Things, and more - 5 of the most expensive 2022 TV shows with sky-high budgets
5) HALO
HALO was originally a franchise that released video games and novels since 2001. The extreme success of the game series over the years has warranted multiple media adaptations to date. The latest was a TV series from Paramount Plus, HALO, released in 2022. The military sci-fi series has been developed by Kyle Killen and Steve Kane, with Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor in the lead roles.
Undoubtedly, it was highly anticipated by fans of the franchise and attracted attention. Paramount Plus also put a lot of faith in the title, rendering it their most expensive production to date. In a report by Variety, it was stated that the network put in $10 million per episode for the 9-episode series, which stands at par with some of the seasons of the highly popular HBO series, Game of Thrones.
"Dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, HALO the series will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future."
It continues:
The series stars Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, Spartan-117; Natascha McElhone as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers; and Jen Taylor as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race."
4) House of the Dragon
House of the Dragon was definitely one of the most popular titles released in 2022. The series came as a prequel to the superhit TV series, Game of Thrones, which is a pop-culture phenomenon. Created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO, the series was adapted from Martin's novel Fire and Blood, which served as a backstory for the original franchise A Song of Ice and Fire.
With the ultimate success of its predecessor, HBO did not hold back on the budget for House of the Dragon. The network reportedly put in an overall budget of $200 million for its first season, with an average of $20 million per episode, which is several millions more than Game of Thrones ever had.
House of the Dragon is set 200 years before Game of Thrones and roughly a century after the Seven Kingdoms have been united by the Targaryens. The series focuses on how the grand house of the Targaryens came to their fall post a destructive fight for succession, later known as the Dance of the Dragons.
3) She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
Marvel Studios is known to spend huge amounts of money on their productions since the Marvel Cinematic Universe took over popular culture in the early 2010s. The success their megabudget productions have seen in recent times has warranted Marvel to get into the television market as well. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was one of their offerings in 2022 as part of their Phase Four television shows.
Like other MCU series produced in the last few years, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was created by Marvel Studios and not Marvel Television. It had a per-episode budget of a whopping $25 million and ranked among the most expensive series released in 2022. The series introduced the character of She-Hulk, played by Tatiana Maslany, and also starred Jameela Jamil, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Ginger Gonzaga, Megan Thee Stallion, and others.
2) Stranger Things season 4
Stranger Things is one of the major pop culture hits of the last decade. The science fiction horror drama series from Netflix became extremely popular upon its release in 2016. Created by the Duffer brothers, the series became a signature title from the streaming giant, becoming one of their most-watched series to date. Understandably, Netflix poured in a lot of money for the production of its latest fourth season, which released in 2022.
According to Wall Street Journal, the fourth season had a per-episode budget of $30 million, which brought the total budget for the nine-episode season to a mind-boggling $270 million.
Stranger Things chronicled the story of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and their involvement with the alternate dimension of Upside Down. The series starred an ensemble cast that included Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, and others.
1) The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The most talked-about title with the biggest budget in 2022 was undoubtedly Amazon Studio's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The fantasy series was created based on J. R. R. Tolkien's epic novel, The Lord of the Rings. Developed by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the series featured an ensemble cast worldwide.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had a lot of expectations to meet, with the cult status and popularity of its predecessor. Meeting those expectations entailed lavish costumes, elaborate sets, and skilled makeup artists, which racked up the highest production budget in television series history. The eight-episode first season had a total monetary expenditure of $465 million, which translated to a per-episode budget of around $58 million.
While the series was already slated as the most expensive series ever made with Amazon's multi-season commitment with an expected overall production of over $1 billion, the extravagant expenditure on their 2022 premiere was unexpected. Studio executives have clarified that a huge part of the budget went into creating the detailed set, which would also be needed in upcoming seasons.
