Lucasfilm Producer Reveals Shocking Cost of Scrapped Star Wars TV Show – $2.4 Billion!

by Annika March 8, 2025

In a galaxy far, far away, there was a Star Wars show that never made it to our screens. George Lucas and his team at Lucasfilm had been working on a television series called Star Wars Underworld, set on the bustling planet of Coruscant. But after years of development, the project was ultimately scrapped. Fans have always been curious about what could have been, and now, in a new interview, Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum has revealed some intriguing details about the long-lost show. And it turns out, it would have cost a whopping $2.4 billion to make!

Lucasfilm Producer Reveals Shocking Cost of Scrapped Star Wars TV Show – .4 Billion!

The Star Wars franchise has been a cultural phenomenon for over four decades, with a dedicated fan base eagerly consuming every new movie, show, and book. But one of the biggest “what ifs?” in this beloved universe is the scrapped Star Wars Underworld TV show. In a recent interview, McCallum, who was George Lucas’ producer at the time, shared some new insights into the never-made series.

According to McCallum, the team at Lucasfilm had worked on dozens of scripts for the show, which would have explored a whole new side of the galaxy far, far away. But what really caught the attention of fans was McCallum’s revelation of the show’s budget. He revealed that the lowest they could get it down to was $40 million per episode, with a total of 60 episodes planned. That amounts to a staggering $2.4 billion for the entire series.

“I think we had over 60 scripts. Third-draft scripts,” McCallum says in the above clip. “Again, the most wonderful writers in the world on it. And again, we created exactly the same experience for everybody at [Skywalker] Ranch, and again just a phenomenal group of talent.”

“And these were dark. They were sexy, they were violent, they were just absolutely wonderful. Wonderful, complicated, challenging. I mean, it would have blown up the whole Star Wars universe and Disney definitely would have never offered George to buy it [laughs]. But it’s one of the great disappointments of our life. But the problem was each episode was bigger than the films, so the lowest I could get it down to with the technology that existed then was about 40 million an episode.”

The news of the exorbitant budget for Star Wars Underworld has left fans and industry experts stunned. Many have taken to social media to express their disappointment that the show was never made and their curiosity about what it could have been. Some have also pointed out that the cost would have made it one of the most expensive TV shows ever produced.

The reveal of the show’s budget also sheds light on the challenges faced by producers and studios when it comes to bringing ambitious projects like this to life. The high cost could have been a major factor in the show’s cancellation, as finding a network or streaming service willing to invest such a massive amount of money would have been difficult.

Although Star Wars Underworld may never see the light of day, the glimpses we have gotten into its potential have left fans craving for more. The show could have been a groundbreaking addition to the Star Wars universe, providing a deeper look into the criminal underworld of Coruscant. But for now, all we can do is imagine what could have been and hope that someday, we may get a chance to explore this uncharted territory in the Star Wars universe.