Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's 'Game of Thrones." (Photo : YouTube/GoT)
The lead cast of HBO's "Game of Thrones" is set to receive hefty boosts in salary and additional bonuses for their work in the upcoming Season 7 and the potential Season 8 of the popular television series. Reports claimed that the stars' salaries are based on a tiered ranking of their significance to the series' narrative.
Buzz has been going around for quite a while about the possibility of the show's season eight as the final season of the smash hit HBO series. Hence, the five lead stars Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister) will receive hefty pay increases, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
The main cast members will all earn upwards of $500,000 per episode in Season 7 and in the likely unannounced Season 8. The pay raises for season seven comes after the actors' demands for salary bumps, as part of their contract negotiations in October 2014.
While the five stars are already secured for the much-awaited Season 7 and potential Season 8, it does not guarantee that their respective characters will make it through what is said to be the end of the fantasy series. HBO declined to give comment on the salary bumps.
Although HBO declined to give the exact numbers, it is said that the pay increase will make the actors' some of the highest paid stars on cable TV. No word yet about other cast members Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) being locked for the seventh and potential eighth seasons.
The seventh season of "Game of Thrones" was announced by HBO on April 21, TV Line has learned. The renewal announcement did exclude the number of episodes in Season 7, though the series' executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, are mulling two short-order seasons.
In contrast to previous seasons, the seventh season will reportedly consist of seven episodes and only six episodes for the likely eighth and final season. The short-order episodes for the final seasons are due to the smaller amount of story content remaining and the time required to film scenes, which involves bigger set pieces than in previous seasons, as well.
Check out the promo for "Game of Thrones" Season 6 finale in a video below:
