One Star Wars TV show had a budget that surpassed even some of Star Wars’ best movies, and, despite public perception, it wasn’t The Acolyte. Although movies have long dominated the Star Wars timeline, since the Skywalker Saga ended with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars’ TV shows have become so much more important. Shows such as Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Andor have had massive influences on the franchise, but one in particular stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of cost.

According to Forbes, Andor had a massive $351.8 million budget, a price tag that beat out its feature-length predecessor, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Forbes reported:

“Recent filings reveal that by the time filming for the second season of
Andor
began in November 2022, Disney had spent a staggering $351.8 million (£270.8 million) on the show…this is 8% more than the cost of making
Rogue One
and a shade less than the $364.5 million (£278.3 million) spent on 2018 box office bomb,
Solo: A Star Wars Story
.”

Andor is easily one of Star Wars’ best TV shows, and it has proven incredibly popular with audiences, but this is nevertheless an astonishingly high number, even for a live-action Star Wars show of Andor’s caliber.

What Andor’s Costs Mean For Star Wars

Following The Acolyte and the subsequent backlash to the show, Disney’s budgets have become increasingly scrutinized. The Acolyte proved incredibly controversial and was ultimately canceled, which only drew more attention to its $230.1 million cost. This was evidently considerably lower than the expense of Andor, but many still found the budget didn’t match the outcome (although, it’s worth noting, it was difficult to distinguish genuine criticism of the show from review bombing and virtriol directed at the actors).

Andor’s budget is different in that regard. Andor is widely considered some of Star Wars’ best work in recent years, so it’s less likely audiences would have sticker shock, even with the expense being so much greater for this show than The Acolyte or, apparently, some Star Wars movies. Even so, Star Wars will very likely not continue to make shows that are this expensive. As a point of comparison, the MCU’s Agatha All Along is the lowest-cost show in that franchise thus far, and budget cuts are likely to trend in the same direction for Star Wars.

Our Take On Andor’s Budget

Ultimately, it’s difficult to say whether a show such as Andor is ‘worth’ the cost, particularly when these discussions involve such staggering numbers. It’s a challenge to truly conceive of a $351.8 million budget and all the nuances that go into those decisions. Having said that, when compared with Star Wars movies like Solo, it makes sense that Disney would invest so much in Andor. In terms of Star Wars ‘successes’ of late, Andor has been high on the list.

For a franchise that seems to be struggling, particularly in light of the at times alarming backlash to The Acolyte, it makes sense that when the franchise felt it had something good, it would spare no expense to bring it to life. It will be interesting to see how this compares with Andor season 2 and whether, ultimately, Andor season 2 will pay off. Given the massive success of Andor season 1, it seems safe to assume it will, but, apparently, Star Wars has taken quite the financial gamble on the show.

Source: Forbes