Disney’s $645 Million ‘Andor’ Budget Shows How It’s Lost Control Of ‘Star Wars’

The future of Disney’s Star Wars remains unclear, but this latest bit of news must produce a reckoning inside the company of what exactly they’re doing here, and how much longer this can possibly continue.

Fellow Forbes contributor Caroline Reid has reported, via Disney’s own disclosures, that the total cost of Andor on Disney Plus will be a stunning $645 million between two seasons, with $290 million spent on season two. Again, this is straight out of Disney’s own financials, due to disclosure rules in the UK.

ForbesDisney Reveals $645 Million Spending On Star Wars Show ‘Andor’By Caroline Reid

Your initial thought may be, “Well, Andor is great, so surely Disney must think it’s worth spending that much.” But Disney is not in the charity business, and despite the fact that yes, you could certainly argue that Andor is the actual best thing Disney’s entire Star Wars era has produced, it has nowhere near the viewership that would justify those kinds of costs.

As recently as last year, Andor was reportedly the least-watched Disney Plus Star Wars project behind all the others starring more names, like Ahoska, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Boba Fett and the OG Mando and Grogu. At baseline, Andor is about one of the dudes from Rogue One,whom we know is going to die.

Of course the show is truly excellent, but again, the show did not pull viewership that would justify that kind of budget. I’m not sure it would if it was the number one show on Netflix, pulling in billions of minutes watched. These numbers are out of control.

After Andor aired, The Acolyte then became the least-watched Disney Star Wars show and was cancelled for the plainly stated reason that its viewership did not justify the cost. The show reportedly cost $230 million for its first season. Now, we have Skeleton Crew, which may again now be the least-watched Disney Plus Star Wars series, but still with a budget of $120 million. It remains to be seen if it will be renewed for season two, but it does not seem likely at this point as the show is not charting in streaming top 10 lists, despite topping Disney Plus’s own internal one.

Disney has veered so hard into almost nothing but streaming Star Wars content that it’s completely lost control of the situation with these ballooned budgets and viewership that simply cannot, under any circumstances, justify that.

Disney was scared off making more theatrical films after Solo underperformed, but its streaming run has produced really only one major hit, The Mandalorian, but a string of high-profile, hugely expensive failures more recently. So far as we know, only Ahoska is getting a second season, likely three years after the first one aired, and Andor only got a season two in the first place because that deal was secured ahead of time. You can imagine that the show may have been cancelled with that budget and that viewership had that original deal not been in place.

I remember hearing some fans say that Disney needs its Agatha All Along for Star Wars, a very cheap series that performed well, a departure from most Marvel projects. Some replies saying that was Andor, given that it was very grounded compared to other series that have sprawling lightsaber fights and frequent space battles. Instead, two seasons are costing two-thirds of a billion dollars.

As much as we all appreciate Disney throwing money into the ether so we can get a series as good as Andor, this cannot go on for much longer on its Star Wars side, and I have to believe we’re going to see a flip back to films and away from so many huge-budgeted streaming productions soon enough. Though it’s having plenty of trouble getting those projects off the ground on that side, too. The only actual movie that’s coming out soon? The Mandalorian and Grogu, a spin-off of its only megahit streaming series.

Disney has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.