The creators of Game of Thrones have been given a massive budget of 160 million dollars for their new series on Netflix. This is interpreted as a strong sign that the streaming giant wants the series to succeed.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ latest book adaptation, 3 Body Problem, will premiere on March 21.
The series tells its viewers a comprehensive and intense sci-fi story that requires a big budget.
First after the controversial final
The highly anticipated new series marks the duo’s first return to television since the controversial final season of Game of Thrones.
Based on Liu Cixin’s 2008 novel series, The 3-Body Problem explores the consequences of a decision made by a Chinese scientist in the 1960s.
The award-winning novel tells the story of how this decision affects multiple generations, and follows humanity as it is forced to grapple with events that open the door to encounters with extraterrestrial life because of a decision made by one person.
Benedict Wong, Jess Hong and Eiza González star in the series, and the cast includes many Game of Thrones stars such as Jonathan Pryce, Liam Cunningham and John Bradley.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the cost of each episode in the first season of the series is approximately 20 million dollars. This means that Netflix spent 160 million dollars on the 8-episode first season of The 3 Body Problem.
A first for Netflix
This is an extremely high cost even for Netflix, but not the biggest. The cost of Stranger Things season 4 was reported to have reached $30 million per episode. However, the production cost of the first season in 2016 was extremely low.
By the time season 4 premiered in 2022, Stranger Things was one of the streaming giant’s most-watched series and was seen as its flagship. However, it is seen as a gamble by Netflix to allocate such a large budget for the first season of The 3 Body Problem. This is the first time the streaming giant has spent so much on a new series.
Netflix spent 18 million dollars per episode for another record-breaking series, One Piece.
Wall Street Journal, ScreenRant
