One of the upcoming original series heading to Apple TV+ is The Morning Show, starring Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies), Jennifer Aniston (Friends), and Steve Carell (The Office). It’s a big series led by major names, so it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear it’s also expensive.
However, according to the show’s director and executive producer, Mimi Leder (On the Basis of Sex), it’s not as expensive as some reports have suggested. According to Leder, by way of an interview with Business Insider, the budget for The Morning Show is “in line” with what you would expect for any “high-end” show, but says that it’s not as high as what’s been reported up to this point.
But’s not $300 million, which has been rumored so far. $300 million for two seasons, to be exact, or $150 million per season and $15 million per episode.
I think [the budget is] very much in line with a lot of shows you see on high-end television, but it certainly was not as high as what’s been reported,” Leder said
More to the point, Leder says that the per-episode cost of the upcoming morning show drama is not as high as what HBO paid per-episode for Game of Thrones. That show cost $15 million per episode. So, whatever The Morning Show costs on an episode basis, it’s something less than that.
For whatever reason Game of Thrones has actually been tossed around quite a bit in comparison for Apple TV+ original content. Not only has the budget been weighed against The Morning Show, but as far as “epic” entertainment is concerned the HBO series has also been compared to the upcoming See, starring Jason Momoa (Aquaman).
As it stands, while exact numbers are not known and it’s all basically rumors at this point, we’ve heard in the past that while Apple’s original budget for original content on Apple TV+ was set at $1 billion, that number has apparently ballooned to $6 billion. So even if Apple isn’t forking over $300 million total for something like The Morning Show, there shouldn’t be any doubt that the company is ready to pay as much as needed to get these shows up and running.
Apple TV+ will launch on Friday, November 1. When it does, it will cost $4.99 per month after a 7-day free trial. Or, if you’ve purchased a new or refurbished Apple device that can stream the service as of mid-September, you’ll get a year’s worth of Apple TV+ at no additional cost.