Scrapped Star Wars: Underworld Would Have Shattered Budget

I won't sugarcoat it: this one really hurts. Rick McCallum, producer of the Star Wars prequels, recently disclosed that the legendary cancelled series Star Wars: Underworld would have cost a staggering $40 million per episode to produce—a price tag that ultimately sealed its fate due to budget constraints.

"The issue was that every episode was larger in scale than the movies," McCallum said in an interview on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast. "So with the technology available at the time, the lowest I could bring it down to was $40 million per episode." He added that failing to bring the project to life over the years remains "one of the great disappointments of our lives."

With 60 completed "third draft" scripts—each portraying the Star Wars universe in "sexy, violent, dark, challenging, complicated, and wonderful" ways, crafted by "the most wonderful writers in the world"—it's clear that budget was the project's true Achilles' heel. Sixty scripts at $40 million per episode already adds up to well over $1 billion, a figure even George Lucas couldn't assemble in the early 2000s.

"[It] would have completely transformed the entire Star Wars universe, and Disney certainly never would have made George an offer to buy the franchise afterward," McCallum noted. The series was definitively shelved once Disney acquired Lucasfilm and Lucas departed.

While McCallum didn't share specific plot details in this interview, fans have long speculated the series would explore the period between *Revenge of the Sith* and *A New Hope*. The producer had previously indicated the show would introduce an entirely new cast of characters, significantly expand the Star Wars lore, and aim for an adult audience rather than teens and children.

Star Wars: Underworld was first announced at Star Wars Celebration in 2005, and test footage leaked in 2020—but since then, nothing more has materialized. Unfortunately, it seems this is one story that may remain untold.