Ben LawsonEver heard the phrase "rich as a Lannister"? How about "rich as the cast of Game of Thrones"?
Well, you likely will now. The leading cast members of HBO's hit show have reportedly just ended contract renegotiations with the network.
Game of Thrones: "When you play the game of thrones you win or you die."
And it looks like they won. Deadline reports the five leads on the show just secured contract deals that will see them getting paid close to $300,000 per episode, which places them among the highest paid actors on television.
The actors making the biggest bucks on the show are Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Actors with lesser parts like Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner also received raises but on a significantly smaller scale, on the condition they would return for a seventh season.
George R.R. Martin, the man who wrote the books the show is based on, is notorious for killing off important and sometimes even fan-favorite characters without batting an eye — and HBO's series is no different.
Some outlets, such as The Huffington Post, took the contract deals as a sign those characters will live to see a seventh season.
But The Hollywood Reporter, who initially reported on the deals, writes that HBO still has the option to write the characters out of the show and the new contracts don't necessarily mean the characters are safe. It also doesn't mean the actors should consider the deal as money in the bank either.
These deals were reportedly made with the purpose of including the option of a seventh season. As of right now, the show is only renewed through a sixth season but given the huge ratings and the long-list of Emmy nominations, it's pretty safe to assume it won't get cancelled any time soon. (Video via HBO)
Back in March, the showrunners told Entertainment Weekly they hope to wrap up the show in its seventh season. Now that the actors' contracts run that exact length, it seems that HBO is on board with ending it then too.
But who knows. The original book series began as a trilogy, but Martin's up to five books already, with at least two more in the works.
This video includes images from Getty Images and Nomadic Lass / CC BY SA 2.0.
