Critical acclaim comes at a price, it seems, at least in a galaxy far, far away. It's not cheap to produce Star Wars movies or TV shows, and that makes a lot of sense. We're talking about a massive sci-fi universe with lots of planets, aliens and action to contend with. But there is an expensive - like Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker costs nearly $300 million — and then there's the outrageously expensive, like the big-budget Disney+ series Andor , which, depending on how one wants to look at it, is probably the most expensive Star Wars thing made right now.

According to a recent report from ForbesDisney spent a whopping $644.9 million in total over the two seasons of Andor. That includes $291 million to date Andor Season 2, which is set to premiere on Disney+ in spring 2025. Now, there is a huge caveat to these figures, as the show is mainly filmed in the UK, which is why these figures were revealed in the first place. As the report explains, in order to qualify for tax breaks to reduce the costs of a given production, the studio needs to provide detailed financial statements.

Those reports also show that Disney received a total of $129.2 million for Andor. That brings the show's total cost over two seasons to about $515 million. Granted, some post-production costs will be added to Season 2 in 2024, so that number isn't final. However, the first season of Andor had a reported budget of $250 million. If we take last year's SAG and WGA strikes into considerationwhich inflates the budget, the second season is not that much more expensive.

Even so, it's very expensive, even by Star Wars standards, and especially by TV standards. Yes, Disney needs to keep producing fresh material to add (or at least maintain) Disney+ subscribers, but this is the kind of spending that seems to defy all conventional logic. Just for some context, "The Mandalorian" costs about $15 million per episode and has aired 24 episodes over three seasons. Very roughly, that would equate to about $360 million for the series' total cost to date.

Even if the cost per episode increases in The Mandalorian Seasons 2 and 3, it will still fall behind Andor. On the film side, it gets tricky, but generally speaking, live-action Star Wars films from the Disney era cost between $200 million and $300 million, with only "Solo" has grossed less than $1 billion at the global box office. So there is a return on investment there.

At this point, the total cost of an episode of "Andor" is north of $20 million. That's absolutely weird, especially considering that the total viewership for Andor's first season was far less than that of The Mandalorian. That begs the question: why would Disney and Lucasfilm continue to pour such large sums of money into this show during its second season? We can only speculate, but there is a likely answer.

It's no secret that Star Wars has been more than a little divisive over the past few years. Andor, meanwhile, was met with widespread acclaim and even received major Emmy nods. The series was completely praised and it's hard to come by this franchise these days. It's entirely possible that Disney finds the investment in that recognition worthwhile. It's also likely that he sees long-term value in letting showrunner Tony Gilroy finish the story, rather than leaving the audience hanging.

That thinking doesn't always work out. The Acolyte was deemed too expensive in terms of its ratings to get a Season 2. The difference? For better or worse, the response to that show was nowhere near positive. Certain viewers were downright toxic and that complicates things a lot. The non-renewal of the show could be considered a victory for those toxic voices. At the same time, the series did not appeal only to toxic fans. It didn't generate enough interest critically or through viewership to renew it.

It would be much harder for a major corporation like Disney to gamble on another season of that show. On the other hand, "Andor" is only guaranteed to gain viewers in its second season, with more people catching up after the first season ended. Even so, it's hard to imagine the investment paying off in terms of raw dollars and cents.

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