HBO gave ‘The Last of Us’ more budget than ‘Game of Thrones’

HBO always has some of the most ambitious television series of all time, however, with “The Last of Us” they wanted to go a little further. And it is that Naughty Dog’s successful video game adaptation has received an impressive amount of money, even more than the budget of many of the seasons of “Game of Thrones”.

According to a recent report from The New Yorker (via ComicBook), HBO gave more budget to ‘The Last of Us’ than to each of the first five seasons of ‘game of Thrones’, which is already one of the most expensive series in the entire history of television. What proves that for the adaptation with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, ambitions have crossed the skies.

According to the article, ‘The Last of Us’ is more expensive than the fifth season of ‘game of Thrones’, and according to TV Guide (via The Direct), each episode of the fantasy series cost between $6 and $8 million, bringing the total to between $60 and $80 million. In 2021, Damien Petti, president of IATSE Local 212, said that the video game adaptation would have a budget of over $10 million per episode.

With those numbers, not confirmed by HBO, it gives a total of $90 million dollars for the first season of ‘The Last of Us’. For comparison, these figures are compared to other major video game adaptations, such as Paramount+’s ‘Halo’ or Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’. Also, it is worth mentioning that the first episode of ‘TLOU’ will last 1 hour 25 minutes, which is undoubtedly a very ambitious story.

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Why will HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ be so expensive?

Although these are large amounts, they are not comparable to the most expensive big series of all time, such as “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, which cost 465 million dollars in its first season alone. . So 10 or 15 million per episode is a respectable number, considering the ambitions of what HBO wants to achieve with “The Last of Us”.

The fact that “The Last of Us” is so expensive means that HBO has faith in the product that is about to be released, so fans should be excited, because, at least in terms of money, the series will not feel like a cheap movie produced or lack of budget. It just remains to be seen if the overall direction and story live up to expectations.

‘The Last of Us’ will premiere January 15 on HBO and will star Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, in the roles of Joel and Ellie, a mercenary and a girl living in a world on the brink of human extinction, caused by a strange virus that turns people into wild creatures.