Andor Cost So Much More Than Star Wars Fans May Realize

When it comes to expensive things to make in the realm of entertainment, "Star Wars" is at or very near the top of the list. While George Lucas' original 1977 sci-fi masterpiece was a relatively low-budget affair, making movies or TV shows set in a galaxy far, far away in 2025 is anything but cheap. Case in point, "Andor" may well be one of the most expensive undertakings in the streaming era, as series creator Tony Gilory has confirmed the show's eye-popping budget.

Gilroy was a guest at the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas over the weekend and, per IndieWire, he confirmed previous reports suggesting that "Andor" cost nearly $650 million across its two season run on Disney+. (Or, to put it another way, nearly $27 million per episode.) That is next level expensive. Even more remarkable? Gilroy didn't have a whole lot of creative input from the higher ups at Disney and Lucasfilm, despite the tremendous investment. Here's what he had to say about it:

"I mean, [for] Disney this is $650 million. For 24 episodes, I never took a note. We said 'F*** the Empire' in the first season, and they said, 'Can you please not do that?' ... In season 2, they said, 'Streaming is dead, we don't have the money we had before,' so we fought hard about money, but they never cleaned anything up. That [freedom] comes with responsibilities."

"I don't think it should be any surprise or even be too slippery or complicated for people to understand the road I have to walk to do all this; to maximize the audience and protect the investment of a really brave [company]," Gilroy added.

For some additional context, "The Mandalorian" cost around $15 million per episode in its first season and attracted more viewers. At the same time, "Andor" is the most roundly acclaimed thing that Disney has produced since purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012. There's value in that, to be certain.

Is the combination of acclaim and whatever value the show brings to Disney+ worth $650 million? That's a tough question to answer, but it's unlikely that Disney will ever make a series like "Andor" again. That's not to say it won't develop more "Star Wars" TV shows, but producing one this expensive? That feels like an idea that is quickly vanishing into the rearview mirror.

As Gilory explained, Disney told him "streaming is dead." This has been backed up by comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who acknowledged that the Disney+ Marvel TV shows "diluted focus" and that sending Pixar movies directly to streaming hurt the brand. "Star Wars" may have helped launch Disney+ in late 2019, but it's clear now that over-investing in streaming can be a fool's errand, as getting a return on that investment is tricky at best. That being the case, it's nothing shy of a miracle that "Andor" got the budget that it got (to say nothing of how Gilroy and Co. managed to make it largely on their own terms).

Moving forward, Disney is putting an emphasis on theatrical movies over expensive streaming shows once again, as the success of "Moana 2" and the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" at the box office have further cemented the company's view on streaming originals. To that end, the "Star Wars" universe will be making its long-awaited return to the big screen in 2026 with "The Mandalorian and Grogu," bringing the titular characters from the TV world into the one of films.

Beyond that, we have "Star Wars: Starfighter," Daisy Ridley's untitled Rey movie, Dave Filoni's Mando-verse film that will tie the "Mandalorian" shows together, James Mangold's "Dawn of the Jedi" movie, and a possible trilogy being put together by Simon Kinberg. As for the live-action shows? Right now, the future on that front is, rather tellingly, on uncertain ground. "The Acolyte" season 2 isn't happening. "The Mandalorian" season 4 likely isn't happening. "Ahsoka" season 2 is the outlier here. Things are changing, making "Andor" something of an anomaly (and an expensive one at that).

"Andor" is streaming in its entirety now on Disney+.