The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s budget is reportedly the highest ever for a TV series set within AMC’s The Walking Dead franchise.
Summary
- The budget for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is the highest of any show in the zombie franchise, totaling $82 million or roughly $13.7 million per episode.
- The budget for the spinoff is more than quadruple that of the original series, which cost around $3 million per episode.
- The high budget is likely due to rising costs of TV shows, as well as the significant salaries of stars Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s budget is reportedly the highest of any show within the zombie franchise. The highly anticipated spinoff is slated to arrive in February and will see the long-awaited return of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira). Despite being the initial protagonist of the franchise, Lincoln departed The Walking Dead after season 9, only returning for a brief cameo at the end of season 11. Now, he is the most recent original star to get his own spinoff.
According to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the budget for AMC’s The Ones Who Live was the highest of any Walking Dead show yet. The agency listed the show’s total budget as $82 million, which would come to roughly $13.7 million per episode. This is quite a bit higher than the budget of the other recent spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City, which was about $72 million total, or $12 million per episode.
Why Is The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s Budget So High?
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s budget doesn’t just exceed that of Dead City, but also that of the original series. In fact, its per-episode budget is more than quadruple that of the original series. The Walking Dead reportedly cost around $3 million per episode to make. When it started, its budget was $3.4 million per episode, but the cost was later whittled down to about $2.75 million for later seasons.
This isn’t a small amount, especially for a cable show in 2010, but it certainly seems low compared to The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Similarly, the spinoff’s budget appears almost modest compared with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s mammoth sum of $58 million per episode, or $30 million per episode for Stranger Things season 4. Hence, part of the reason why this spinoff’s budget is so high is simply that the costs of TV shows are rising due to inflation and the CGI, production values, and advertising necessary to remain competitive.
It’s also important to remember that cast salaries account for a significant portion of the budget. Lincoln is arguably the biggest star to come out of the franchise, while Gurira isn’t far behind him. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the spinoff with two of the highest-paid actors in the franchise would be the most expensive to make. Though much of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s budget can likely be attributed to cast salaries and inflation, its low episode count also suggests some went towards visual effects and expanding its scope.
