The most expensive Star Wars project of all time, according to Disney

Critical acclaim is worth it, it seems, at least in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars movies and TV shows aren’t cheap to make, and that makes a lot of sense. We’re talking about a mind-blowing sci-fi universe with tons of planets, aliens, and action to contend with. But it’s expensive there – I like it Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is set to cost nearly $300 million — and then there’s the insanely expensive, like the big-budget Disney+ series Andor , which, depending on how one wants to look at it, is possibly the most expensive Star Wars thing ever made to date moment

According to a recent report from ForbesDisney spent a whopping $644.9 million on both seasons of Andorra. That includes $291 million to date “Andor” Season 2 is set to premiere on Disney+ in spring 2025. Now there is a big caveat with these numbers as the series is mainly filmed in the UK, which is why these numbers were revealed in the first place. As explained in the report, in order to qualify for tax credits to reduce the cost of this production, the studio must provide detailed financial statements.

Those reports also show that Disney received a total of $129.2 million for Andorra. That brings the total cost of the two-season show down to about $515 million. Of course, 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 strikeswhich blew the budget, the second season is not much more expensive.

Even so, it’s insanely expensive, even by Star Wars standards and especially by TV standards. Yes, Disney needs to keep releasing fresh material to add (or at least keep) Disney+ subscribers, but that’s the kind of spending that seems to defy common sense. Just for some context, The Mandalorian costs about $15 million an episode and aired 24 episodes over three seasons. Very roughly, that would equate to about $360 million for the series’ total to date.

Even if the cost per episode went up in seasons 2 and 3 of The Mandalorian, it would still fall behind Andor. When it comes to movies, it gets trickier, but in general, live-action Star Wars movies from the Disney era cost between $200 million and $300 million, just “Solo” grossed less than $1 billion at the global box office. So there is a return on investment there.

At the moment, the total cost of an episode of “Andorra” is about 20 million dollars. This is absolutely ridiculous, especially considering this the total number of views of Andorra season 1 was significantly lower than that of The Mandalorian. This begs the question: Why would Disney and Lucasfilm continue to pour such crazy amounts of money into this series during its second season? We can only guess, but there is a likely answer.

It’s no secret that Star Wars has caused more than a little controversy over the past few years. Meanwhile, “Andor” was met with widespread acclaim and even received high praise from the Emmys. The series received high praise, which is hard to find in this franchise these days. It’s entirely possible that Disney sees the investment in this recognition as worthwhile. It’s also likely that he sees longer-term value in allowing showrunner Tony Gilroy to wrap up the story rather than leaving the audience hanging.

This kind of thinking doesn’t always work. “The Textbook” was deemed too expensive relative to the audience to get a 2nd season. The difference? For better or worse, the reaction to that show wasn’t all that positive. Some viewers were just plain toxic, and that makes things much more difficult. Refusing to renew the show could be seen as a victory for these toxic voices. At the same time, not only toxic fans did not like the series. It didn’t generate enough interest from critics or viewers to get a renewal.

It would be a lot harder for a large corporation like Disney to play another season of this show. Andor, on the other hand, is almost certain to attract viewers in its second season, with more people catching up after its first season. Even so, it’s hard to imagine the investment paying off in raw dollars and cents.

Andor Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.