"Star Wars: Underworld Cancellation Due to High Costs"

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.

In an interview on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast, McCallum explained, “The problem was that each episode was bigger than the films. So the lowest I could get it down to with the tech that existed then was $40 million an episode.” He further expressed that the inability to successfully realize the project over the years continues to be “one of the great disappointments of our lives.”

Rank The Star Wars Movies and TV Shows

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 killer for this project. Multiplying 60 scripts by $40 million per episode brings the total cost well into the $1 billion mark — a sum that even George Lucas couldn’t finance back in the early 2000s.

McCallum added, “[It] would’ve blown up the whole Star Wars universe and Disney would’ve definitely never offered George to buy the franchise.” The series was ultimately cancelled once Disney took control of Lucasfilm and Lucas stepped aside.

Although McCallum did not disclose specific plot details during the interview, fans have long speculated that the series would cover the events between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The producer had previously mentioned that the series would introduce a whole new cast of characters, significantly expand the Star Wars universe, and target an adult audience rather than teens and children.

Star Wars: Underworld was first announced at Star Wars Celebration in 2005, and test footage from the series surfaced online in 2020. Unfortunately, it appears that this may be the last we hear of it.