In November 2016 one trade paper reported that Peter Dinklage would be paid $1.1 million per episode for the final two seasons. Nine months later, a rival trade paper published $500,000 — for the same seasons, the same person.
A factor of 2.2, between the two leading publications in the industry. Neither has ever withdrawn its figure, and nobody has reconciled them.
Peter Dinklage Net Worth: Why We Publish No Figure
- $12.5m–$20.3m in gross fees for seasons 5 to 8 — a range, because the trade press disagrees with itself
- Not one asset of his appears in any register we searched
- Our take: no verified figure. The most-cited estimate contains a total that exceeds its own conclusion. See our methodology.
Every Step, Checked Separately
We tested each reported stage against contemporaneous reporting rather than accepting the ladder as a whole. The result is unusually good — and it fractures at the top.
| Reported | Figure | For |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2014 | “close to $300,000” an episode | Seasons 5–6 |
| Jun 2016 | “north of $500,000” | Seasons 7–8 |
| Nov 2016 | $1.1 million, for 7 + 6 episodes | Seasons 7–8 |
| Aug 2017 | $500,000 — labelled an “estimate” | Seasons 7–8 |
Follow the sequence. In June 2016 both papers agreed on “north of $500,000”. In November one of them revised sharply upward to $1.1 million. Then, nine months after that revision, the other published $500,000 as a current estimate.
The network declined to comment on contract talks throughout. So both figures stand, and the gap between them is the single largest uncertainty in his file.
They Did Not Always Negotiate Together
The received story is that the leads always bargained as a bloc. That is true for one round and the opposite of true for the other.
- 2014: the five “did not negotiate together, with the deals done one by one”
- 2016: they “banded together” and concluded a joint renegotiation
Two rounds, two methods, both documented. The 2014 deal was also described as a tiered system — with no figures attached to the tiers.
The Figure That Does Not Exist
A third number circulates widely: $1.2 million, attributed to a trade report of October 2018.
We could not find that report. Four search approaches and the web archive turned up nothing. And the outlet most often cited for it phrases it in the conditional — “believed to be earning”. A hedge, repeated onward as a fact.
Seasons 1 to 4 are worse: the widely quoted $150,000 comes from aggregator sites with no contemporaneous source at all. Half his run on the series is simply undocumented.
What Can Honestly Be Added Up
Since the sources conflict, we publish the arithmetic openly rather than picking a side:
| Seasons 5–6 (20 episodes at ~$300,000) | ~$6 million |
| Seasons 7–8 (13 episodes at $500,000 to $1.1m) | $6.5m – $14.3m |
| Seasons 1–4 | Not quantifiable |
| Total, seasons 5–8 | $12.5m – $20.3m |
This is gross salary, not wealth. Before the 20 to 30 per cent typically taken by agent, manager and lawyer, and before tax. It covers four of eight seasons and nothing else in his career.
An Estimate That Overshoots Its Own Conclusion
The most-cited figure is $25 million, and the page multiplies fee by episode count to get there. Three problems, all visible on the page itself:
- It applies $500,000 to seasons 5 and 6 — where both trade papers reported close to $300,000. The higher rate only begins with season 7
- It counts 14 episodes for the final two seasons where the source says 13. Its own total is the arithmetic for 13
- It concludes that his earnings “likely top $30 million” — above the $25 million net worth in its own headline
No source is given for any of it. Gross earnings exceeding stated net worth is not a rounding problem — it means the page never performed the subtraction it implies.
Even the standard reference work gives a rounded “$1 million per episode” sourced to two magazines — when a trade paper had published a more precise figure years earlier. The rounded version travels; the sourced one does not.
The Network’s Parent Discloses Nothing About Him
We checked the listed parent company’s annual report for the relevant year. The series appears only descriptively — programming, awards, home entertainment releases.
The single talent line is a group-wide commitment of $2.5 billion for “creative talent and employment agreements” — across every division the company owned.
That is emphatically not his fee, and its silence is not evidence either way: listed media groups never disclose individual pay, so the absence is exactly what you would expect.
His Production Company Exists. Its Terms Do Not.
Founded in 2016, with several films to its name, it signed a multi-year first-look television deal in July 2021.
No financial terms were disclosed — which is standard for such arrangements — and a securities search for the company returns zero results.
Every Register We Searched Is Empty
- Securities filings: six mentions of his name, none involving money — four are cast listings for a film, two appear inside another person’s biography. A control query returns over ten thousand results, so the search works
- Property records: nothing under his name. Control queries return data, so the null is real — though purchases through companies would never show a personal name
- Trademark disputes: none on record, verified against a control returning over a hundred
A neat namesake catch worth recording: searching his surname alone returns 42 filings, most of them a German packaging business named after the town of Dinklage in Lower Saxony.
One thing we could not establish, and will not dress up as a finding: whether his production company holds any trademarks. The register only permits lookups by known registration number, and every name-search route returned no response at all. That is unresolved, not negative.
The Advertising Figure Is the Broadcaster’s, Not His
He appeared in a Super Bowl commercial in February 2018 — one, not several, contrary to common assumption. What is documented is the airtime cost: over $5 million for thirty seconds, with an industry average that year of $5.24 million.
That is what the advertiser paid a television network. His fee has never been published, and the two figures have nothing to do with each other.
The Bottom Line
Documented: roughly $300,000 an episode for two seasons, somewhere between $500,000 and $1.1 million for two more, a production company with undisclosed terms, and one advertising appearance with no fee attached.
Not documented: half his run on the series, any theatre or voice fee, any company income, any property, any investment — and everything after tax.
His file is better sourced than most. It still contains a two-fold disagreement between the two publications that exist to report exactly this — and that alone makes a single net worth figure unserious.
Sources
- October 2014: ~$300,000 an episode, and deals done one by one
- The same renegotiation, described as tiered — with no figures
- June 2016: “north of $500,000”
- The same week: “upward of $500,000”, network declines comment
- November 2016: $1.1 million, and “banded together”
- August 2017: $500,000, nine months after the revision
- The $1.2 million claim, phrased as “believed to be”
- His company’s 2021 first-look deal — no terms
- The parent company’s $2.5 billion group talent commitment
- One of six securities mentions — a cast listing, no money
- The namesake: a company named after a German town
- The $25 million estimate, whose own total reaches $30 million
Money Timeline
| Date | Type | Event | Amount | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-10-30 | Payday | About $300,000 an episode - and deals done one by one | $300K | For seasons 5 and 6, with an option on season 7. The same report contradicts the received story that the leads always bargained as a bloc: the five did not negotiate together, with the deals done one by one. A parallel report the same day confirmed the renegotiation and described it as a tiered system, attaching no figures to the tiers. source |
| 2016-06-21 | Payday | Both trade papers agree: north of $500,000 | $500K | Reported within half an hour of each other by the two leading industry publications for seasons 7 and 8, one saying north of and the other upward of this figure. The network declined to comment. It is the last moment at which the two papers agree - five months later one of them revised sharply upward and the other never followed. source |
| 2016-11-17 | Payday | $1.1 million an episode - and this time they banded together | $1.1M | For seven episodes of season 7 and six of season 8 - thirteen in total, or roughly $14.3 million gross. The same report states the five A-tier leads had banded together to conclude the renegotiation, the opposite of the arrangement two years earlier. This is the higher of the two competing figures for the same work. source |
| 2016-12-31 | Deal | $2.5 billion for talent - across an entire media group | $2.5B | The listed parent company's annual report mentions the series only descriptively; its single talent line is this group-wide commitment for creative talent and employment agreements, spanning every division the company owned. It is emphatically not his fee, and its silence is not evidence either way - listed media groups never disclose individual pay, so the absence is exactly what you would expect. source |
| 2017-08-22 | Payday | $500,000 - published nine months after the revision to $1.1 million | $500K | A rival trade paper's figure for the same seasons and the same people, explicitly labelled a per-episode estimate. A factor of 2.2 separates it from the November 2016 report; neither publication has withdrawn its number and nobody has reconciled them. A third figure of $1.2 million, widely attributed to a trade report of October 2018, we could not find at all - and the outlet most often cited for it phrases it as believed to be, a hedge repeated onward as fact. source |
| 2018-02-04 | Payday | One Super Bowl commercial - and the only figure is the broadcaster's | One appearance, not several, contrary to common assumption. What is documented is the airtime cost: over $5 million for thirty seconds, with an industry average that year of $5.24 million. That is what the advertiser paid a television network for broadcast time. His fee has never been published, and the two figures have nothing to do with each other. source | |
| 2021-07-14 | Deal | A first-look deal with no terms disclosed | His production company, founded in 2016 and with several films to its name, signed a multi-year first-look television agreement. No financial terms were published, which is standard for such arrangements, and a securities search for the company returns zero results. One thing we could not establish and will not dress up as a finding: whether it holds any trademarks. The register permits lookups only by known registration number, and every name-search route returned no response at all - unresolved, not negative. source | |
| 2026-08-02 | Deal | An estimate whose own total exceeds its conclusion | $25M | The most-cited figure multiplies fee by episode count and gets three things wrong on its own page: it applies $500,000 to seasons 5 and 6, where both trade papers reported close to $300,000; it counts 14 episodes for the final two seasons where the source says 13, though its own arithmetic is for 13; and it concludes his earnings likely top $30 million - above the $25 million net worth in its headline. Gross earnings exceeding stated net worth means the subtraction was never performed. Even the standard reference work gives a rounded $1 million per episode sourced to two magazines, when a trade paper had published a more precise figure years earlier. source |
Key financial events, aggregated from the sources cited above. See our methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to the most common questions about this profile. For our sourcing and update method, see our Methodology page.
What is Peter Dinklage's net worth in 2026?
No verified figure exists. The most-cited estimate of $25 million multiplies fee by episode count and gets three things wrong on its own page: it applies $500,000 to seasons 5 and 6, where both trade papers reported close to $300,000; it counts 14 episodes for the final two seasons where the source says 13, though its own total is the arithmetic for 13; and it concludes that his earnings likely top $30 million - above the $25 million net worth in its own headline. Gross earnings exceeding stated net worth is not a rounding problem. It means the page never performed the subtraction it implies.
How much was Peter Dinklage paid per episode of Game of Thrones?
That depends on which trade paper you believe, and the gap is the single largest uncertainty in his file. In November 2016 The Hollywood Reporter reported $1.1 million per episode for seven episodes of season 7 and six of season 8. Nine months later, in August 2017, Variety published $500,000 for the same seasons and the same people, explicitly labelled an estimate. That is a factor of 2.2 between the two leading publications in the industry, neither has withdrawn its figure, and the network declined to comment on contract talks throughout. For seasons 5 and 6 both papers agree at close to $300,000. Seasons 1 to 4 are undocumented - the widely quoted $150,000 comes from aggregator sites with no contemporaneous source at all.
Did the Game of Thrones cast negotiate their salaries together?
Only the second time. In 2016 The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the five leads had banded together and concluded a joint renegotiation. For the round two years earlier the opposite is documented: Deadline reported in October 2014 that the five did not negotiate together, with the deals done one by one. Two rounds, two methods, both on the record - so the common claim that they always bargained as a bloc is wrong for 2014. That earlier deal was also described as a tiered system, with no figures attached to the tiers.
What can actually be added up from Peter Dinklage's Game of Thrones pay?
Roughly $6 million for seasons 5 and 6, being 20 episodes at about $300,000, plus somewhere between $6.5 million and $14.3 million for the 13 episodes of seasons 7 and 8, depending on which trade figure you use. That gives a range of about $12.5 million to $20.3 million across four of the eight seasons. Two caveats that matter more than the numbers: this is gross salary rather than wealth, before the 20 to 30 per cent typically taken by agent, manager and lawyer and before tax - and it covers half his run on the series and nothing else in his career.
How much did Peter Dinklage earn for his Super Bowl commercial?
Unknown, and the figure people cite is somebody else's. He appeared in one Super Bowl commercial, in February 2018 - one, not several, contrary to common assumption. What is documented is the airtime cost: over $5 million for thirty seconds, with an industry average that year of $5.24 million. That is what the advertiser paid a television network for broadcast time. His fee has never been published, and the two figures have nothing to do with each other.
More hollywood profiles like this
Browse a curated selection of other hollywood profiles. Net-worth figures load when available; otherwise see the individual profile.
