UPDATED: Five Game of Thrones actors reportedly earning £2 million per episode for seasons 7 and 8

Several months back, we reported that five of the “top-tier” actors on Game of Thrones — Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, and Emilia Clarke — had renegotiated their contracts with HBO such that each of them would get paid $1.1 million per episode in seasons 7 and 8. Now, Express is reporting that those same actors have signed new contracts that could net them up to £2 million per episode. In dollars, that’s around $2.56 million.

There’s a couple of things to note there. First, although the story has been picked up by a few other outlets, HBO has yet to confirm anything, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, Express notes that the contracts “contain complex bonus clauses based on shared percentages of syndication payments received from more than 170 countries in which the series is broadcast,” meaning that the actors in question may not receive a flat £2 million per episode — part of that sum may depend on how the episode fares.

Of course, we can all assume the final 13 episodes of the show will fare pretty well. Express quotes media analyst Mike Raia as saying that HBO is “breaking the bank to ensure its most successful scripted programme ever goes out with the kind of flourish fans all over the world have come to expect.” That might be worth a hefty payday.

In addition to increasing salaries, HBO is also spending more on production than ever before, with much of that going to scenes involving Daenerys and her dragons. “Fans who thought last season’s giant battle scene was breathtaking should know they ain’t seen nothing yet,” said “a show insider.”

However it gets distributed, a potential £2 million per episode is a whole hell of a lot of money. The stars of Friends made waves back in the day when it came out that they made $1 million per episode, and these payments would dwarf that. (With the caveat that Friends had 24 episodes per season. Also remember that Game of Thrones cast members rarely appear in every episode of a given season.) We’ll see if all this spending bears fruit when season 7 premieres on July 16.

UPDATE: James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly doesn’t think this report holds much water.