I’m not gonna lie: this one stings. Star Wars prequels producer Rick McCallum recently revealed that the legendary cancelled series Star Wars: Underworld would’ve cost a whopping $40 million per episode to make — effectively dooming it to be axed for budget reasons.
“The problem was that each episode was bigger than the films,” McCallum explained in an interview on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast. “So the lowest I could get it down to with the tech that existed then was $40 million an episode.” McCallum added that the inability to successfully realize the project over the years continues to be “one of the great disappointments of our lives.”
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With 60 “third draft” scripts written that showcased the Star Wars universe in “sexy, violent, dark, challenging, complicated, and wonderful” ways from “the most wonderful writers in the world,” it's clear that the budget was the true obstacle for this ambitious project. Multiplying 60 scripts by $40 million per episode pushes the total cost well into the $1 billion mark — a sum that even George Lucas himself couldn’t scrounge up back in the early 2000s.
“[It] would’ve blown up the whole Star Wars universe and Disney would’ve definitely never offered George to buy the franchise,” McCallum added. The series was truly axed once Disney took control of Lucasfilm and Lucas stepped aside.
Though McCallum did not confirm any plot details during this interview, fans have long speculated that the series would cover the events between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The producer previously revealed that the series would feature a whole new cast of characters, greatly expand the Star Wars universe, and target an adult audience — rather than focusing on teens and children.
Star Wars: Underworld was first revealed at Star Wars Celebration back in 2005, and test footage from the series was leaked in 2020. Unfortunately, since then, that’s all she wrote. Sadly, it looks as though it may just stay that way.
