For years, articles repeated neat per-episode figures for the Game of Thrones cast as if HBO had published a payroll table. It did not. The numbers came from entertainment-industry reporting, and in 2026 Emilia Clarke publicly pushed back on at least some of the salary figures that had circulated around the show.
The widely quoted final-season estimates
In 2019, reports citing Variety placed Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau at roughly $500,000 per episode. Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Isaac Hempstead Wright were reported at roughly $150,000 to $175,000 per episode, depending on the outlet and reporting date.
Those numbers were repeated so often that they gradually became “facts” in search results. But they were still media estimates based on industry reporting—not an HBO disclosure.
Emilia Clarke says some salary reporting was inflated
In a 2026 interview, Clarke rejected a long-circulating claim that the principal actors were making $300,000 per episode, saying they had not earned that much. She did not publish her contracts or confirm the better-known $500,000 figure.
That does not prove every older estimate was wrong. It does mean a responsible 2026 article should stop presenting entertainment salary reporting as audited compensation data.
There may not be one clean answer
Top-tier group
Several reports grouped five principal actors at the same headline per-episode estimate.
Episode count
Even equal rates do not guarantee equal season earnings if actors appear in different numbers of episodes or negotiate bonuses separately.
Contract structure
Backend participation, bonuses, guarantees and other terms are rarely visible to the public.
Career value
The show also created long-term value through future roles, endorsements and production opportunities—none of which appears in a per-episode number.