Cancelled Series Star Wars: Underworld Was So Expensive, It Would've 'Blown Up' the Star Wars Universe

Rick McCallum, producer of the Star Wars prequels, recently revealed the staggering cost behind the cancelled Star Wars: Underworld series: a jaw-dropping $40 million per episode. This exorbitant budget, exceeding even the cost of the films themselves, ultimately sealed its fate. "The problem was that each episode was bigger than the films," McCallum explained 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." He described the project's demise as "one of the great disappointments of our lives."

With 60 third-draft scripts penned by "the most wonderful writers in the world," depicting a "sexy, violent, dark, challenging, complicated, and wonderful" Star Wars universe, the budget proved insurmountable. Even at the early 2000s, the estimated cost of $2.4 billion (60 scripts x $40 million) was far beyond reach, even for George Lucas. McCallum noted that the series' ambition would have drastically reshaped the Star Wars universe, making Disney's subsequent acquisition of the franchise highly unlikely. Disney's acquisition and Lucas's departure ultimately ended any hope for the project.

While McCallum remained tight-lipped on plot specifics, fan speculation centers on the series bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Previous comments indicate a fresh cast of characters, a significant expansion of the Star Wars universe, and a target audience of adults, a departure from the franchise's typical youth-oriented approach.

First unveiled at Star Wars Celebration in 2005, and with test footage surfacing in 2020, Star Wars: Underworld remains a "what if" scenario. The high production cost appears to have permanently shelved this ambitious project.