No 'Game of Thrones' pay gap: Kit Harington, Lena Headey have equal salaries
The Iron Bank is equally generous to kings and queens.
Game of Thrones principal cast members Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) are making exactly the same per-episode salaries and bonuses, and have been since at least the beginning of this season, according to leaked documents sent to Mashable that purport to be the actors' contracts covering Seasons 7 and 8.
Harington and Headey are the only principal actors whose contracts appear to be in the document dump from Friday, the sixth wave of files the HBO hackers have released since late July. Their contracts contain practically identical language -- including a clause stating that no cast member can be paid more.
The contracts contain specific per-episode salary figures, signing bonuses, contract-completion bonuses and bonuses for awards nominations and wins -- all identical -- but Mashable has chosen not to reveal those details.
The bottom line: No gender pay gap here -- at least as far these two Game of Thrones characters are concerned. It's a fairly common practice in successful television ensembles to keep everyone at the same level, though there's no telling who among the other cast is considered "principal."
According to the documents, Headey and Harington can make significant one-time payouts if the show wins an Emmy or Golden Globe for Best Drama, if they are nominated for/win an acting Emmy or Golden Globe, or score an individual Screen Actors' Guild nomination or win.
HBO had no comment.
The contracts also allude to payments tied to the show's "net proceeds" that were originally detailed in 2012 contracts, which probably means annual bonus cash -- along the lines of profit points in movies -- once the accountants are done figuring out how much the show made overall.
The question remains: Who among the Game of Thrones cast is in this upper echelon?
Topics Cybersecurity Game Of Thrones HBO
Josh Dickey is Mashable's Entertainment Editor, leading Mashable's TV, music, gaming and sports reporters as well as writing movie features and reviews.Josh has been the Film Editor at Variety, Entertainment Editor at The Associated Press and Managing Editor at TheWrap.com.A finalist for the Los Angeles Press Club's Best Entertainment Feature in 2015 for "Everyone is Altered: The Secret Hollywood Procedure that Fooled Us for Years," Josh received his BA in Journalism from The University of Minnesota.In between screenings, he can be found skating longboards, shredding guitar and wandering the streets of his beloved downtown Los Angeles.
