Tony Gilroy‘s $650 million fight for Andor budget highlights a rare moment when Disney invested heavily in streaming content, only to retreat from the strategy soon after. The resulting series, Andor, marked both a critical win and a financial risk for the studio, unfolding during a pivotal period for the Star Wars franchise on Disney+.
Disney’s Gamble on Tony Gilroy and the Andor Series
After earning acclaim for his work on 2016’s Rogue One, Tony Gilroy returned to oversee Andor, a Star Wars prequel series. Commissioned as a two-season project totaling 24 episodes, Andor quickly became known as one of Disney’s best-received streaming offerings. Its sizable budget was unprecedented for a show of this type, with nearly $650 million spent across the two seasons according to Gilroy’s own account during an interview with IndieWire.
The production of Andor stood out not just for its artistic ambition but also for the significant resources involved, making it a flagship example of Disney’s aggressive—if short-lived—streaming strategy. This investment came at a time when Disney was determined to position its streaming platform as the primary home for major Star Wars projects, competing head-to-head with other leading services.
Tony Gilroy’s Battle to Secure Funding Amid Strategic Shifts at Disney
Securing such a large budget was no easy feat for Gilroy, especially as Disney began to rethink its streaming priorities partway through production. He faced unexpected obstacles when the studio announced it was cutting back funding for streaming productions, leaving the Andor team to negotiate for the resources they believed the show needed.
“In Season 2, they said, ‘Streaming is dead, we don’t have the money we had before,’ so we fought hard about money.”
—Tony Gilroy, Showrunner
This candid admission from Gilroy reveals the extent of the internal disagreements over financing as Andor season 2 entered production. Disney’s shift away from heavy investment in streaming meant that the series became something of a “Hail Mary”—an unusually large bet at a moment when the future of streaming was already in doubt within the company’s leadership.
Financial Realities and the Long-Term Impact on Star Wars Streaming
Reports suggest that the first season of Andor accounted for $344.6 million of the overall production budget, with the second season, as noted by Forbes, costing about $273.7 million. These numbers are further complicated by factors such as pre-production expenses split across seasons, but even with a conservative calculation, each season averaged around $325 million. This figure surpasses the budget of most Star Wars blockbusters, underscoring the scale of the project.
Although the series stretched this investment over 24 lengthy episodes—comparable to eight feature films—the financial return was mixed. The Wrap reports that since its 2022 launch, Andor has brought in about $300 million in subscriber revenue for Disney+. In effect, this means Disney recouped less than half its original outlay across three years, raising questions about the sustainability of such investments as a business model.
With the true financial results falling short of initial hopes and Disney moving away from high-cost streaming exclusives, industry observers doubt whether the company will pursue similar large-scale Star Wars series in the near future. The calculated risk of backing Andor at this level now appears to be a one-time experiment unlikely to be repeated soon.
Andor season 2 may still drive additional revenue as audiences continue to discover the show, but the studio’s revised approach suggests this was a final roll of the dice rather than the start of a new era in streaming originals. For now, Andor stands out as both a creative achievement and a cautionary tale about the high stakes of streaming investments.
The Andor series is currently available to stream on Disney+ in the United States.
