Prestige television has come a long way in the past few years, with shows receiving more exuberant budgets per episode to deliver products that reach a global audience. More often than not these projects are huge science fiction and fantasy productions like Game of Thrones or Star Wars, requiring the construction of physical and digital sets that usually cost a lot of money.
However, Severance, Apple TV’s hit physiological dystopian drama, which largely takes place on sets that can be mistaken for modern-day urban settings, has dropped its budget for each episode. It costs more than Game of Thrones to make already, and the show doesn’t seem to be on a lot of people’s radar.
Fans are a little confused with Severance‘s per-episode budget
Fans have taken to the internet with their questions about the show’s sophomore season budget, wondering why the show costs so much, despite a lower budget yielding full CGI fests like Game of Thrones.
While there have been more expensive shows than Severance, they have almost always included some overt fantasy setting, usually including dragons or similar enormous monsters as part of its regular narrative. Despite its dystopian setting, Severance has no such narrative need for CGI dragons or outer space shots, which has caused fans to question why the show has so much money being thrown on it.
Severance costing $20 million an episode might not be great news
While the first season of the show has been very well received by those who watched it and critics, a bigger budget for the show does not guarantee a better season for fans. There have been shows that have come out of production houses that have managed to tank despite their enormous budget, which could also be the case for Severance.
However, it must also be noted that a large chunk of the audience is seemingly unaware of the show, which again poses the question as to why Apple is pouring so much money into the show. The writing of the show has been well received, but there seems to be very little the production house is doing to market the show.
Despite the show’s relative anonymity, it seems that the production is on its way to wider acclaim. The news of the budget per episode has managed to grab the attention of a slew of first-time viewers, who might be interested in what the show is doing. This might also stem from the fact that audiences might be interested in seeing what exactly the show did with its first season to merit such an enormous Season 2 budget.
