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At the height of Game of Thrones' popularity, it arguably was the most talked-about TV show in the world. As a result of that popularity and Game of Thrones' massive cast, the show made a long list of actors famous who were previously unknown.
In the years since Game of Thrones came to an end, the show's many stars have spoken about their experiences at length. Thanks to those interviews, it now seems to be easier to learn about how Game of Thrones was made than at any time in the past.
In recent years, Game of Thrones fans have learned things like what Emilia Clarke thought was the hardest part of making the show and if the series' stars miss it. On top of that, fans have also learned how rich a lot of the show's stars are now. However, many Game of Thrones fans still have no idea how much money Carice van Houten is worth as of this writing. On top of that, fans seem to be even less informed about how much van Houten was paid to star in the show.
How Rich Did Game Of Thrones Make Carice Van Houten?
Before HBO made Carice van Houten a massive star, she was already building a name for herself in a series of notable movies. A memorable part of films like Valkyrie, Black Book, Repo Men, and Intruders, van Houten was starting to turn some heads.
Once fans got their first look at van Houten portraying Game of Thrones' Melisandre, however, her career went to a whole new level. Arguably one of the most imposing characters in Game of Thrones history, Melisandre may not have been at home on the battlefield, but it would be frightening to have her as an enemy.
Since Melisandre was such a compelling character, many Game of Thrones fans were happy to see the character show up in a total of 29 episodes. Thanks to her appearing in so many episodes of a show that was massively popular, many fans became very interested in the Dutch actor.
Obviously aware of how popular van Houten had become, lots of different websites began reporting on everything they could find out about her. A perfect example of that is that celebritynetworth.com started to analyze all the publicly available information about van Houten.
According to celebritynetworth.com, van Houten's acting career has been very rewarding for her as they estimate she has a $5 million fortune.
Unfortunately for anyone who wants to know how much van Houten made for each episode of Game of Thrones she starred in, there aren't any credible reports about that. However, that doesn't mean that there is no way to estimate how much van Houten likely was paid for her most famous role.
In 2019, Business Insider published an article comparing how much the Game of Thrones stars were paid to the salaries other TV stars were getting at the time. Sadly, that piece didn't reveal how much van Houten was paid for each Game of Thrones episode she was a part of.
On the bright side, however, Business Insider revealed how much many of van Houten's Game of Thrones co-stars were paid for the show. According to that article, by 2017 Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau were all paid $500,000 for each Game of Thrones episode they starred in.
Of course, any Game of Thrones fan will already know that all of those actors played more important roles in the show. As a result, it seems very clear that van Houten wouldn't have been paid as much as those actors were.
That said, once you know how much van Houten's co-stars were paid, it becomes a lot easier to make an educated guess about how much money she earned.
Considering that van Houten's character was a memorable part of Game of Thrones, it seems likely that she made more than $75,000 per episode based on what is known. On the other hand, since van Houten was a supporting actor and her aforementioned co-stars were the leads, it seems very likely they would have been paid at least twice as much as her.
While it is important to note those figures are nothing more than educated guesses, it seems logical to think van Houten would have been paid between $75,000 and $250,000 per episode.
Why Carice Van Houten Almost Was Paid A Lot More For Game Of Thrones
Given that portraying the Game of Thrones character Melisandre made Carice van Houten rich and famous, it seems almost certain she is very thankful she got to be part of the show. That said, it is fascinating to learn what van Houten once revealed about how she landed her role.
In 2012, van Houten was interviewed by Vulture. During the resulting conversation, van Houten revealed that before she was cast as Melisandre, Game of Thrones producers were interested in her for a much more pivotal role.
First off in the interview, the reporter asked van Houten the following. "You originally were up for another part in the series. Who?" In response, van Houten revealed that she had the opportunity to possibly be cast in one of Game of Thrones' most important roles.
"Cersei. I thought the queen would be a great part, and they asked me to audition, but I couldn’t do it, because I was shooting something else. I think it was Intruders, with Clive Owen, and there was no way."
Based on van Houten's comments, she certainly didn't claim that she definitely would have been cast as Cersei if she was able to audition for the role. That said, since van Houten is a fantastic actor and Game of Thrones producers clearly respected her talents, she might have won the part.
If van Houten was cast as Cersei, she clearly would have been paid a lot more money for the show. On top of that, it is really interesting to imagine her in the role.