Paramount+1923 is pretty grand in comparison to the rest of the Yellowstone franchise, but by Taylor Sheridan’s estimation, it may be the most expensive first season of TV ever made.
Indeed, 1923 stepped out of the restraints of Montana and gave fans a globetrotting romantic adventure. While Jacob and Cara Dutton were heading up the ranch, Spencer Dutton and Alexandra took a trip around the world, boarding ships and battling elephants.
It’s a big change from the limits of the Dutton ranch, and that was no doubt reflected in the price tag. (Not to mention, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren would have bumped up the cast pay considerably.)
However, creator Taylor Sheridan has very high expectations for this prequel series, having named it as one of the most expensive seasons of television ever made.
Taylor Sheridan says 1923 more expensive than Game of Thrones
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan said, “I’m going to tell you and you can tell by watching… I would argue that 1883 was the most expensive first season of a TV show ever made. This was much more expensive. Much more expensive.
“I don’t know what the Game of Thrones budgets were, but I don’t know how they could have been more than this.”
ParamountFirst of all: he’s right. The first season of 1923 reportedly cost $200 million (that’s around $500,000 per minute of screen time). The first season of Game of Thrones, on the other hand, cost around $50-$60 million.
However, it isn’t the most expensive first season of TV ever made. For instance, it doesn’t beat out the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Rings of Power, which had a budget of $465 million for the first season.
1923 is just part of Paramount’s Sheridan budget, with the studio reportedly spending around $500,000 million on his projects annually.
1923’s production costs are much higher for a reason
So, why does 1923 cost so much? Well, for one, most of the season was shot across locations in Africa, in at least four countries. There was also the extreme amount of background detail, including “six thousand sheep, three thousand cattle.”
As Sheridan describes it, 1923 is the “Lawrence of Arabia” of TV shows.
Paramount+Sheridan also upped the number of episodes which brought about Season 2. He recalled telling Paramount, “Hey, I need to make more episodes to finish this story.”
He added, “That’s the thing about Paramount that’s been so great for me. They’re so malleable to the storyteller, or at least to me as the storyteller.
“They will add episodes because I need it to tell the story. You think about when you talk about a show that’s costing $22 million an episode and you just asked for eight more episodes, I didn’t do very good in math in school, but I can multiply eight and three and add a bunch of zeroes and realize I just asked for 150 million dollars.”
1923 Season 2 premieres on Paramount+ on February 23.
For more, check out our guide to the rest of the Yellowstone timeline. You can also see what other new TV shows are coming out, and check out our guide to the best Western TV shows.
