Jerry Seinfeld Was Offered $100m To Make One More Season Of ‘Seinfeld’

Jerry Seinfeld was offered a whopping $100 million contract to film just one more season of Seinfeld, yet instead chose to walk away from the hit sitcom after its ninth season.

That’s according to former NBC executive Warren Littlefield, one of the group who attempted to lure the comic back in front of the camera for a tenth season. Yet Seinfeld turned down the sum, which worked out at $5 million per episode, because he wanted to have a family.

Speaking to FOX, Littlefield revealed Seinfeld made a ‘quality of life decision’ when he quit the show, though did say the comedian was tempted:

“We didn’t mess around. What we put on the table was unheard of. We went in there with a staggering sum and there was tremendous confidence that no one could walk away from it… (Jerry) came to me and said, ‘I don’t have a life, I’m not married, I don’t have kids.’ We gave it everything we had, he was tempted, but in the end it was a quality of life decision.”

It’s little surprise that NBC were flashing the big bucks at Seinfeld. Rather than tiring of the show, audiences seemed to grow more and more fond of it. In its final season, the comedy clocked up its best ever ratings, with an average of 21.7 million U.S. households tuning in for each episode. Critics also continued to lavish praise on the show, the last episode of which aired on May 14, 1998.

That same year, Seinfeld finally got the personal life he desired when he married his wife Jessica. The couple have three children together.