Netflix
After a massive nationwide marketing campaign and expanding the show’s budget from $6 million to $8 million, Netflix is expecting massive binge sessions of Season 2 of Stranger Things that debuted on the streaming service this week. There are lofty expectations from Netflix and fans of the 80s nostalgia TV series to not have a sophomore slump and not be a one season sensation. Much of the high expectations rest on the shoulders of kids who don’t even shave yet. But how much do the young actors from Stranger Things get paid to be straddled with more stress than some adults?
Your favorite supernatural-fighting kids from Hawkins, Indiana are getting paid well for their age, but maybe not as much as veterans of the industry. The Hollywood Reporter says an inside source says kid actors Millie Bobby Brown (13), Finn Wolfhard (14), Gaten Matarazzo (15), and Caleb McLaughlin (16) each got paid $30,000 per episode for the first and second seasons. They also received a bonus once the show was deemed to be a giant success, but it was less than six figures. So that would be $510,000 for two seasons before bonuses.
A half a mil is nothing to scoff at and is a pretty fucking fair wage for kids who can’t even drive a car yet. But it’s actually peanuts compared to other stars of hit TV shows. Game of Thrones stars such as Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, and Lena Headey earn $500,000 an episode. The Stranger Things kids are not even in the same stratosphere as The Big Bang Theory cast including Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, and Simon Helberg who make a whopping $900,000 per episode.
Check out the 85 highest paid TV stars right HERE.
[PopBuzz]