If you think ‘The White Lotus’ stars all have different salaries, think again

HBO’s award-winning series The White Lotus has become a hit by poking fun at the lives of the super-rich. But the way the show handles salaries behind the scenes is just as interesting as the stories it tells. Unlike most big TV shows, The White Lotus uses a fair and unusual payment system: every main actor gets paid the same amount.

This equal-pay approach, which has been in place since the first season, gives each main cast member about $40,000 per episode according to Business Insider. For a standard eight−episode season, that adds up to around $40,000 per episode. For a standard eight−episode season, that adds up to around $320,000 total. While that’s still a good amount of money, it’s much less than what stars on other popular shows make.

For example, the main actors in Stranger Things reportedly earn between $6 million and $9 million per season. This discrepancy shows how different the pay scales can be. Even the later seasons of Game of Thrones had main actors making hundreds of thousands per episode. Actors are paid by what profits they will likely bring to the show or movie they’re in, which is why major actors make more.

The White Lotus actors get equal-pay rates

The show’s creators chose this flat-rate system because of how the series started. The first season was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic on a tight budget, so they had to devise a smart way to cast actors. The equal pay and listing of actors alphabetically in the credits made things fair and helped attract performers who cared more about the script and the show’s growing reputation than just a big paycheck.

This payment system has affected who ended up getting cast. While the show’s success draws plenty of famous actors, the fixed salary plays a big role in their decision. Some actors, who want higher pay, turn down offers. For instance, Woody Harrelson was originally in talks for a role in season three but reportedly walked away when he couldn’t negotiate a higher salary.

This isn’t a workplace, so equal pay doesn’t make much sense when audiences are more likely to watch the show if a certain actor is in it. That’s how RDJ got so much for being in Spider-Man Homecoming. It’s like paying right now for what you’re sure you’ll make back later thanks to that actor being there.

David Schwimmer convinced the cast of Friends to work together, which is why they make so much money. He was a popular character and was set to be paid more than the others, but thought far enough ahead that he knew it could be more worthwhile to work with his cast mates. Now they all make a million per year for roles they did decades ago.

This shows that the producers won’t budge on the $40,000-per-episode rule. On the other hand, actors who do join often do it because they want to be part of a well-respected show with a talented team, valuing the prestige and career boost over money.

The show’s casting director has said that many actors—even well-known ones—audition for roles, no matter how famous they are. This policy has stayed in place even as the show has gotten more popular, ensuring that skill and fit for the role matter more than star power or bargaining power. While some big-name actors might not usually audition for parts, many still see The White Lotus as a worthwhile opportunity, even if the pay is lower than what they’d normally make.