Tony Gilroy’s “Andor” is many things — prestige TV, political sci-fi, the best Star Wars since the ‘80s — but cheap it is not.
At the ATX Television Festival this week, Gilroy casually confirmed what insiders have been whispering for a while now: “Andor” cost over $650M to make. Let me repeat that. Six hundred and fifty million dollars. For 24 episodes. Of a Star Wars show. On a streaming platform Disney now says was never really worth the investment (a little about that later).
“Never took a note,” Gilroy said. “For Disney, this is $650M.” You almost have to respect the man’s delivery, and honesty.
“Andor,” blowing past every prior Star Wars production, even the sequels, wasn’t on my bingo card. That’s more than “The Last Jedi” and “The Force Awakens.” Combined with the cost of Season 1, the total now reportedly eclipses the budgets of the entire original trilogy — by over 10 times.
The insane budget covers two seasons, sure, but let’s not pretend this didn’t go off the rails a bit. Production was stop-and-go — filming began in 2022, got sidelined by the strikes, and didn’t wrap until February 2024.
Gilroy also confirmed what many suspected: Disney gave him a long leash. “We fought hard about money,” he said, “but they never cleaned anything up.” This from the same studio that’s now openly walking back its streaming ambitions. Gilroy actually stated that, while negotiating for the budget, Disney told him “streaming is dead.” But before they bailed on the streaming game, they threw one last Hail Mary into the content void — and that was” Andor.”
There’s something kind of hilarious about Disney saying, “We’re out of the streaming wars,” after letting Gilroy build his sci-fi opera with the budget of a Marvel movie. But you know what? Fans will take it.
Lars Von Trier is working on the 15th—and likely final—film of his career, “After,” and according to his producer, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, the screenplay is supposed to be completed this month