10 Most Expensive Shows on Netflix

Netflix is generally considered the primary streamer. And fair enough, it was a trendsetter, first in its concept of delivering DVDs to your door and then in its production of original content with gargantuan budgets, all of which they would release at once. For the most part, their business model has worked, as the company has always done a great job of producing content that has a far reach. Unfortunately, they also have the pesky habit of canceling shows before they really deserved to go, from niche stuff like Santa Clarita Diet to critically acclaimed favorites like GLOW. The reasons for this vary.

Of course, one of those is money. It always is. If a show is expensive to produce but isn’t attracting enough attention to warrant the investment, the show gets the ax. What follows are the biggest investments Netflix has made. Some of the shows started out expensive, some only grew to be that once they ended up proving themselves to be flagship IPs.

1) The Sandman

The Sandman, based on Neil Gaiman’s 1989-1996 comic book, is like a few other popular Netflix shows in that it’s not intended to go on and on. In fact, it’s only set to run for two seasons, the second of which hits the streamer in July 2025. The narrative follows Dream AKA Morpheus AKA the title character, Sandman. He’s the embodiment of dreams and, after being held captive for over a century, he’s out.

The eleven-episode first season reportedly cost about $165 million. That equates to $15 million per episode. It’s unclear at this point how much Season 2 cost, but given how the IP was always a niche (but revered) part of DC Comics history, it’s hard to imagine them going much higher than $165 million as they send the show out

2) Marco Polo

An ultra-ambitious period piece, Marco Polo was an extremely costly expenditure for Netflix, and it wasn’t quite worth it. The first season netted outright poor reviews, even if the second season did much better. But that jump in quality still didn’t justify an expenditure of about $10 million per episode across 20 episodes total.

At the time of release, Marco Polo was the second most expensive TV show in the world, after only Game of Thrones. The difference is that Game of Thrones was in its fourth season in 2014, Marco Polo was just starting out. Game of Thrones was a pop culture juggernaut, so an expenditure of that magnitude was certainly worth it for HBO. It wasn’t at all for Netflix and, after canceling the series, the streamer was reported to have lost $200 million on it, which was more or less its entire production budget.

3) The Witcher

It will be interesting to see how The Witcher does with a new protagonist, because Henry Cavill is out and Liam Hemsworth is in (for the show’s last two seasons). Based on the book series of the same name, the fantasy drama was essentially Netflix’s answer to HBO’s Game of Thrones.

The first season of The Witcher cost upwards of $80 million, or $10 million per episode. Season 2 saw a sharp increase up to $176.3 million, or over $20 million per episode. All in all, Netflix has spent an estimated $319 million on the show, meaning the third season was brought more in line with Season 1 than Season 2. With two more seasons happening though, it’s pretty expensive stuff.

4) Arcane

One of the few Netflix shows with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, Arcane is certainly one of the better adaptations of an online multiplayer videogame out there. The narrative follows sisters Violet and Powder, two residents of the underfunded city-state Zaun, as they and their neighbors rise up against the ultra-rich city of Piltover.

Arcane wasn’t a particularly long-term investment on Netflix’s part, as the series was only intended for a two-season run. Even still, it’s been reported that the show hasn’t proved to be profitable for Riot Games, but perhaps good things come over time. With $250 million for 18 total episodes, profitability isn’t an overnight attainment.

5) Bridgerton

A period piece cultural touchstone of a show, Bridgerton immediately announced itself as a fan-favorite romance. The narrative follows the siblings of a noble family as they all look to find love and clout.

Thus far there have been three seasons of the show, with a fourth season expected to release in 2026. A spin-off series, titled Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, was also released in 2023. The first episode of the fancy costume-laden show was budgeted at an estimated $7 million per episode. With eight episodes total that’s $56 million. It’s been reported that the $7 million per episode allotment hasn’t really changed too drastically as the show has progressed so, given the show’s popularity, not a bad investment at all.

[RELATED: Bridgerton Sneak Peek Reveals Season 4’s New Couple (Just in Time for Valentines Day)]

6) Sense8

Considered by many to be one of Netflix’s best shows, Sense8 was nothing short of ambitious. It’s also one of the more critically praised projects to come from Lana and Lilly Wachowski, following the divisive nature and financial failure of Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending. The science fiction series follows eight individuals from separate corners of the Earth who find that they are linked in mind and emotion. In other words, they are “sensates.”

The two season show, which ran from 2015 to 2017, with 12 episodes per season. The first season cost an estimated $120 million, or $10 million per episode. The second season was reduced to $9 million per episode, but the cost-cutting wasn’t nearly enough to get the show a longer run, as it was pretty much a cult series from the beginning.

7) One Piece

One Piece, the live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga series, follows teenage pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, AKA the Straw Hat Pirates, as they search for the title treasure, which will allow Luffy to be deemed the Pirate King. The show has been renewed for a second season (and it seems a third), so it certainly found a wide audience, but one still has to imagine that Netflix would like to keep Season 2’s budget close to Season 1’s. Why? Because it cost a whopping $144 million.

The debut season had eight episodes, so that equates to $18 million per episode. Pirate-focusing projects have always had trouble securing wide audiences outside of the first few Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but One Piece managed to buck the trend by being Netflix’s most-watched show during the latter half of 2023.

8) The Get Down

One of those canceled Netflix shows fans want to come back, the single season The Get Down was Netlix’s most expensive series at the time of release in 2017. Worse yet, it was 33 percent more than the allotted budget at the beginning of production.

Specifically, The Get Down was supposed to cost Netflix “just” $90 million for 13 total episodes. However, only 11 episodes ended up being produced and even that reduced number still cost the streamer a massive $120 million. Over $10 million per episode is a gargantuan amount for a show detailing teens witnessing the rise in popularity of hip-hop, disco, and punk music.

9) The Crown

Like the final entry on our list, The Crown proved to be one of Netflix’s flagship series. And, throughout its six seasons, the period piece (covering various periods), was quite the investment for the streamer. It was, after all, a lengthy story to tell, one spanning nearly 60 years.

All in all, The Crown cost Netflix in the neighborhood of $648 million across its tenure, and $144 million of that was for the sixth and final season alone. Costuming alone cost a fortune, but many of the show’s fans would agree that the money was well spent, as both the clothing and the replications of the different time periods were gorgeous and stunningly realized.

10) Stranger Things

Like with any other television series, the budget per season of Stranger Things has gone up with each subsequent year. It’s a special effects-laden show, so improvements on that front are always a factor, especially when the stories get bigger and bolder. But there are also cast contract renegotiations to consider, and since Stranger Things is arguably the flagship series for Netflix, the cast has certainly been entitled to increased fees to return.

The first season of the throwback show only cost $6 million per episode. That went up to $8 million per episode of Season 2. It’s not clear how much each episode of Season 3 cost, but the budget for the fourth year was a massive $30 million per episode, making the cost of the first four seasons at least $400 million collectively. This year’s fifth season is also its final one, and it’s currently estimated that the budget per episode is in line with those for Season 4.