The most expensive Star Wars project ever, according to Disney

Critical acclaim seems to come at a cost, at least in a galaxy far, far away. Producing Star Wars movies or TV shows isn’t cheap, and that makes perfect sense. We’re talking about a sweeping sci-fi universe with plenty of planets, aliens, and action to contend with. But there are expensive – such as “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” cost nearly $300 million — and then there are the weirdly expensive ones, like the big-budget Disney+ series “Andor,” which, depending on how one wants to look at it, is arguably the most expensive “Star Wars” thing ever produced at this point.

According to a recent report from ForbesDisney spent a whopping total of $644.9 million on both seasons of “Andor.” This includes $291 million to date Season 2 of “Andor” is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in spring 2025. Now, there’s a big caveat to these numbers, as the show is largely filmed in the UK, which is why these numbers were revealed in the first place. As the report explains, in order to qualify for tax credits to reduce the cost of a particular production, a studio needs to submit detailed financial reports.

Those reports also show that Disney received a total of $129.2 million for “Andor.” This brings the total cost of the two seasons to about $515 million. It is certain that some post-production costs will be added to Season 2 in 2024, so this number is not final. However, the budget for the first season of “Andor” was $250 million. If we take Last year’s SAG and WGA strikes are taken into accountwhich inflated the budget, the second season is not much more expensive.

However, it’s pretty expensive, even by “Star Wars” standards and especially by TV standards. Yes, Disney needs to keep churning out new material to add (or at least maintain) Disney+ subscribers, but this is the kind of spending that seems to go against all conventional logic. Just for some context, “The Mandalorian” costs about $15 million per episode It aired 24 episodes over three seasons. Roughly, that would equate to about $360 million for the total cost of the series so far.

Even if the cost per episode of The Mandalorian seasons two and three balloons, it will still lag behind Andor. On the cinematic side, it gets tough, but overall, live-action “Star Wars” movies in the Disney era cost $200 to $300 million, and there’s only $200 million to go. “Solo” grossed just under $1 billion at the global box office. So, there is a return on investment there.

At this point, the total cost of the Andor episode is about $20 million. This is quite strange, especially when we take that into consideration The overall viewership for the first season of “Andor” was much lower than that of “The Mandalorian.” This begs the question: Why do Disney and Lucasfilm continue to invest such massive amounts of money into this show during its second season? We can only speculate, but there is a possible answer.

It’s no secret that “Star Wars” has been a bit divisive over the past few years. Meanwhile, “Andor” was met with widespread acclaim and even received major Emmy nods. The series has been highly praised and that’s hard to come by in this franchise these days. It’s entirely possible that Disney sees the investment in this acclaim as worthwhile. It’s also likely that she sees long-term value in letting showrunner Tony Gilroy finish the story, rather than leaving audiences hanging.

This thinking doesn’t always work. “The Acolyte” was deemed too expensive for its viewership to get a second season. the difference? For better or worse, the response to this show wasn’t nearly as positive. Some viewers were downright toxic which complicated things considerably. Not renewing the show could be seen as a win for those toxic voices. At the same time, it wasn’t just toxic fans who disliked the series. It did not generate enough critical interest or viewership to attract renewal.

It would be very difficult for a big company like Disney to bet on another season of this show. On the other hand, ‘Andor’ is sure to attract viewers in its second season, with more people tuning in since the first season ended. However, it is difficult to imagine that the investment will pay off in terms of raw dollars and cents.

Andor Season 2 will premiere on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.