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 hefty $40 million per episode. This exorbitant budget, exceeding even the cost of the films themselves, ultimately led to its demise. McCallum explained on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast that the scale of each episode, even with the technology available at the time, made it impossible to reduce costs below this figure. He described the project's cancellation as "one of the great disappointments of our lives."

With 60 third-draft scripts already completed, showcasing a "sexy, violent, dark, challenging, complicated, and wonderful" vision of the Star Wars universe penned by top-tier writers, the budget proved insurmountable. The estimated cost of $2.4 billion (60 scripts x $40 million/episode) was simply too much, even for George Lucas in the early 2000s. McCallum suggested that the series' ambition would have fundamentally altered the Star Wars landscape, potentially preventing Disney's later acquisition of the franchise. Disney's subsequent acquisition of Lucasfilm and Lucas's departure sealed the project's fate.

While McCallum remained tight-lipped on plot specifics, fan speculation consistently points to the series bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Previous statements indicated an entirely new cast, a significant expansion of the Star Wars universe, and a target audience of adults, departing from the franchise's typical teen and child demographics.

First unveiled at Star Wars Celebration in 2005, and with test footage surfacing in 2020, Star Wars: Underworld remains a tantalizing "what if?" Sadly, it appears this ambitious project will likely remain unrealized.