Surprise: Turns out bringing the galaxy far, far away as we’ve seen it on the big screen for decades to a streaming service is going to require more than a few galactic credits.
As part of a larger report about Disney tapping Ricky Strauss, Walt Disney Studios’ current president of marketing, to manage its still incredibly nebulous (and untitled) streaming service planned to launch next year, The New York Times snuck in a brief little tidbit about Jon Favreau’s upcoming live-action Star Wars show, which will be set seven years after the climax of Return of the Jedi, a still mostly-unexplored period in the 30 years between the original Star Wars films and The Force Awakens.
Presented only as an offhand comment rather than an official reveal, the Times reports the Star Wars series will run for 10 episodes, with an estimated budget for the series clocking in at a hefty $US100 million ($135 million), or pretty much $US10 million ($13.5 million) an episode.
That would put the series as one of the priciest TV shows around in a world of rapidly-spiralling TV production costs, as prestige dramas become grander in the age of peak TV.
For comparison, the $US10 million ($13.5 million) an episode is on par with reports about the cost per episode of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season, although Variety reported last year that the final season’s six episodes will have an eye-watering budget of $US15 million ($20.3 million) each. Dragons: They don’t come cheap!
And it isn’t just pay TV shelling out that kind of money — Variety further reported that Netflix spent upwards of $US8 million ($10.8 million) per episode on Stranger Things’ second season. Freaky Demogorgon monsters: They also don’t come cheap!
An allegedly massive budget for a Star Wars series makes sense — and not just from the production standpoint of needing a ton of CG, a lot of sets, and costuming additions such as weird aliens, suits of armour, and all the other things that make Star Wars look like Star Wars.
This is going to be the first live-action TV show in the Star Wars universe. Disney is going to want it to look as close to the films as it can, and as good as the films, so it’s probably more than worth splashing the money on it to entice fans to sign up for yet another streaming service.
After all, a slick-looking Star Wars show is an ally as powerful as the Force itself.