"Game of Thrones" may be getting a seventh season!
The main actors of the hit HBO fantasy drama series, who were only signed through the sixth season of the show, have just finished an extensive renegotiation of their contracts that includes an option for Season 7, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
And in exchange for a potential Season 7, the network reportedly gave the stars big raises for the upcoming Season 5 and 6, as well as for the possible seventh installment, making the show's cast members among the highest-paid actors on cable TV.
"Game of Thrones," which is based on the George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel series, was renewed for a fifth and sixth season on April 8. While there has been no official word whether a seventh season is happening, it is considered highly likely since the show is currently the biggest program on HBO.
Last season, "Game of Thrones" dethroned "The Sopranos" as the network's most watched series of all-time in terms of average gross viewership. The program attracted a enormous 18.6 million viewers across multiple platforms and views, not to mention its similarly strong viewership overseas, according to THR.
"Game of Thrones" uses a tiered system to pay its stars, sources told THR. The "A" tier is paid at the highest level. Actors belonging to this level include Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister).
While THR sources claim that the "A" tier actors renegotiated their contracts as a union, Deadline is reporting that "A" tier actors settled their deals one by one over the past couple of months, with Harington, Headey and Clarke closing their new contracts first, followed by Dinklage, and then Coster-Waldau.
As of last season, both Headey and Dinklage were making $160,000 per episode, according to TV Guide. But after renegotiating their contracts, the two, along with Harington, Clarke and Coster-Waldau, will be paid close to $300,000 an episode, according to Deadline.
"B" tier actors, which include Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and other, are also scoring raises, but less compared to their "A" tier co-stars.
A still-lower tier of regular actors will also receive much smaller raises, according to THR sources.