The Star Wars brand has definitely seen better days. With many of their hit shows seeing lower than expected ratings and the collapse of their Galactic Starcruiser hotel many are left wondering if the franchise is even salvageable at this point.
One of the recent highlights from the brand was the Disney+ original series Andor. The series served as a prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and followed Cassian Andor before the events of the film. The series quickly became a fan favorite and was called one of the best Star Wars shows in years.
Despite the praise from fans, the series suffered from low viewership numbers. This was most likely in response to fans being underwhelmed with other Star Wars series, such as The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The viewership for the series was so poor that the first two espies of the show were broadcast on television during the 2022 Thanksgiving week.
Now it turns out that the series may have done even more harm than good to the franchise. In a recent article via The Hollywood Reporter interviewing series Showrunner Tony Gilroy and star Diego Luna, it was revealed that the estimated budget for the 12-episode series was $250 Million, making it the most expensive Star Wars series to date. That far exceeds the budget for the first season of The Mandalorian, which had an estimated $120 Million budget.
Gilroy commented on this, saying, “We got lucky making this during the gold rush a few years ago. A lot of people now have cold feet, and you can’t do this show inexpensively. I’m just so relieved at the reaction because we were making this huge, obscure thing and we knew it was crazy. Like, ‘Is this too much? Have we gone too far?’ There were no focus groups or test audiences. Now it will be good if we can stick the landing and go out strong.
Despite the show’s shortcomings, a second season is currently filming with an August 2024 release date. However, the recent writer’s strike may affect the show’s development. Hopefully, they can better manage the budget.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, IGN
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