As Abbott Elementary is gearing up for its fourth season to start on the 2024 TV schedule, it has a lot to be proud of. Along with slaying the red carpet at the 2024 Emmy Awards while celebrating their many nominations for Season 3, the ABC comedy will hit 50 episodes this fall, marking a major milestone for the sitcom. However, while all these accolades and milestones are cool, the cast also just scored a major pay raise. It might not be Big Bang Theory money, but it’s seriously impressive.
What Salaries Were Like For The Big Bang Theory And Other Casts
Back in 2018, Forbes reported that Big Bang star Jim Parsons was the highest-paid actor on television as he made $26.5 million, with co-stars Johnny Galecki ($25 million), Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg (tied at $23.5 million) right behind him. Along with them, the top 10 highest-paid actors on television were making well over $10 million just a few years ago, and it’s very impressive.
They could make an incredible amount of money just from reruns as well, as the series continues to live on in syndication and on streaming.
Meanwhile, the Friends cast made $1 million per episode in its later years, and they still get $20 million a year for residuals.
Tom Selleck’s salary on Blue Bloods is also impressive, as he has earned a whopping $56 million throughout the show’s entire run.
So, with successful shows come big paychecks. While Abbott isn't at these numbers yet, their latest raise is a sign that they're possibly headed in that direction.
What The Abbott Elementary Cast Is Making
Deadline reports that the cast of Abbott Elementary has received big salary increases for the upcoming fourth season.
Sources tell the outlet that Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, and Chris Perfetti renegotiated their contracts with Warner Bros. Television to secure big raises. Brunson, who created the series and serves as an executive producer and writer as well, will now receive $350,000-$400,000 per episode with Williams and Ralph taking $250,000.
Meanwhile, James, Walter, and Perfetti will be making $2000,000. William Stanford Davis will not be receiving the same increase as his fellow co-stars after being bumped up to series regular in Season 2. However, the Mr. Johnson actor is still getting a ”generous” increase of up to $100,000 per episode, which is a lot. This update also comes just a year after Davis revealed his residuals during the strikes, which were basically next to nothing, so it puts how amazing these raises are into perspective.
With no end in sight for the series, it wouldn’t be surprising if those salaries continue to increase year after year too. You never know, maybe someday they will reach Big Bang levels of money.
To see why this cast has gotten such impressive raises, you can tune into Season 4 of Abbott Elementary when it premieres on the 2024 TV schedule on October 9 on ABC.
