It’s been a few weeks since the first installment of ‘The Last of Us’ and we will still have to wait a long time for the premiere of season 2, but the HBO series has been involved in a striking controversy over the salary gap between its two protagonists. . A rather absurd controversy as soon as one knows how Hollywood works.
From Variety they commented at the time that Peter Pascal charged 6$00,000 per episode, while Bella Ramsey had to settle for 70,000. Some figures that are very far from each other and that clash in times when so much talk about salary parity, but asking that this be applied in all cases is nonsense, and I don’t think anyone here can argue that Pascal was much more popular than Ramsey before its premiere.
Yes, both participated in ‘Game of Thrones’, but Pascal came to ‘The Last of Us’ as the brand new protagonist of ‘The Mandalorian’ and became one of the most requested actors of the moment. Of course he was going to charge much more, since he had all the bargaining power possible for it. It is true that it was not the only name that was considered for the role of Joel, but do not doubt for a second that Mahershala Ali he would have collected a figure much closer to Pascal’s than Ramsey’s.
Some precedents
In the end, in the series it is common for the first seasons to charge much more for the performers who have already made a name for themselves in Hollywood and who could easily have found a well-paid job in another production. Hence, for example, Sean Bean earned $120,000 per episode in the first season of ‘Game of Thrones’, the highest paid cast at the time.
Obviously, this disparity is usually corrected as the seasons progress and it is clear that the series needs both protagonists equally and that the popularity of both is now more similar. But even then there may be certain differences. For example, Winona Ryder he earned $100,000 per episode of ‘Stranger Things’ versus $20,000 each for the young actors. Five more times. For the final season, Ryder is expected to pocket a total of 9.5 million, while Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp or Finn Wolfhard They will take 7 million. On your part, most likely Millie Bobby Brown It has gone from 20,000 to a figure even higher than Ryder’s, but in this case the exact amounts are unknown, since she has a special contract with Netflix.
And the same thing happens in the cinema, because of a lifetime the big stars have earned more, even if they basically get the same screen time as other actors. Because in the end there are people who pay to see those people, not the rest.
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