Turns out the most expensive Star Wars project ever is not a film, but quite possibly, the more slow-burn political drama, Andor. Andor has just been wrapped up with the production of its second season and now has a release date of April 2025 on Disney+. The show, however, cost Disney a pretty penny, with two seasons tallied at a jaw-dropping $645 million– a budget that could’ve afforded them two Avengers films, or two mainline Star Wars films!
The report came from Disney itself and Forbes. Andor Season 2 cost Disney around $290.9 million to make. To date, Andor Season 2 is Disney’s highest annual expense (at least for the company’s publicly disclosed findings).
Meanwhile, Season 1 of Andor was no slouch either and cost Disney around $271.6 million. For comparison’s sake, the last Star Wars film, which would be Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker, with a budget of around $275 million.
For another comparison, Disney’s highest-ever spending for the MCU was also $365 million, which was the budget for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Andor Compared to Other Star Wars Series
Granted, it’s a bit of an unfair comparison since Andor is now a 20-episode or 20-hour spectacle. So a fairer comparison would be for the Ahsoka series and the Star Wars: The Acolyte series, both with budgets of around $100+ million and $230 million, respectively. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian, often regarded as the best Star Wars show (as is evident in the upcoming film), only costs around $120 million per season.
Andor was also reportedly affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike, during which its production was suspended during the summer of 2023. Such a setback has added to the production cost since filming only resumed in January 2024.
For those who haven’t caught up to Disney’s relatively fresh venture on Star Wars, the Andor show follows the exploits of the titular character, Cassian Andor. If you can recall, Andor is the very same Rebel Alliance operative who sacrificed himself and died with Jyn Erso in the Star Wars spin-off film, Rogue One.
Andor thus highlights the stories of the brewing rebellion in the Galactic Empire, leading up to the infiltration and eventual destruction of the first Death Star.
