The Most Expensive Star Wars Project Of All Time, According To Disney
Critical acclaim comes at a cost, it seems, at least in a galaxy far, far away. It's not cheap to produce "Star Wars" movies or TV shows, and that makes a lot of sense. We're talking about a sweeping sci-fi universe with lots of planets, aliens, and action to contend with. But there's expensive — like "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker" costing nearly $300 million — and then there's outlandishly expensive, 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 made at this point.
According to a recent report from Forbes, Disney spent a whopping $644.9 million in total on both seasons of "Andor." That includes $291 million to date on "Andor" season 2, which is due to premiere on Disney+ in Spring 2025. Now, there is a massive caveat to these numbers, as the show is largely filmed in the U.K., which is why these numbers were disclosed in the first place. As the report explains, in order to qualify for tax credits to bring down the cost of a given production, the studio needs to provide detailed financial reports.
Those reports also show that Disney received a total of $129.2 million for "Andor." That brings the total cost of the two season show down to around $515 million. Granted, some post-production costs will be added to season 2 in 2024, so that number isn't final. Still, "Andor" season 1 had a reported budget of $250 million. If we take last year's SAG and WGA strikes into account, which inflated the budget, the second season isn't that much more expensive.
Even so, it's wildly expensive, even by "Star Wars" standards and especially by TV standards. Yes, Disney needs to keep churning out fresh material to add (or at least maintain) Disney+ subscribers, but this is the kind of spending that seems to fly in the face of all conventional logic. Just for some context, "The Mandalorian" costs around $15 million per episode and has streamed 24 episodes across three seasons. Very roughly, that would equate to around $360 million for the total cost of the series to date.
Andor is tremendously expensive, so why is it worth it for Disney?
Even if the per-episode cost ballooned in "The Mandalorian" seasons 2 and 3, it would still lag behind "Andor." On the movie side of things, it gets tricky, but generally speaking the live-action "Star Wars" films of the Disney era have cost between $200 and $300 million, with only "Solo" taking in less than $1 billion at the global box office. So, there is return on investment there.
At this point, the total cost for an episode of "Andor" is north of $20 million. That's absolutely outlandish, especially when we consider that overall viewership for "Andor" season 1 was far lower than that of "The Mandalorian." That begs the question: why would Disney and Lucasfilm continue to invest such wild amounts of money into this show during its second season? We can only speculate, but there is a likely answer.
It's no secret that "Star Wars" has been more than a little divisive over the last handful of years. "Andor," meanwhile, was met with widespread acclaim and even garnered major Emmy nods. The series has been roundly praised and that is tough to come by in this franchise these days. It's entirely possible that Disney sees the investment in that acclaim worthwhile. It's also likely that it sees longer term value in allowing showrunner Tony Gilroy to wrap up the story, rather than leave audiences hanging.
That thinking doesn't always work out. "The Acolyte" was deemed too expensive relative to its viewership to receive a season 2. The difference? For better or worse, the response to that show was not nearly as positive. Certain viewers were downright toxic and that complicates matters vastly. Not renewing the show could be viewed as a win for those toxic voices. At the same time, it wasn't just toxic fans who disliked the series. It didn't generate enough interest critically or through viewership to garner a renewal.
It would be far more difficult for a big corporation like Disney to gamble on another season of that show. On the flip side, "Andor" is all but assured to gain viewers in its second season, with more people catching up with it since the first season ended. Even so, it's hard to imagine the investment will pay off in terms of raw dollars and cents.
"Andor" season 2 premieres on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.