How Andor’s $705M Black Hole Sunk Disney’s Star Wars

New financial disclosures reveal that Disney poured $705.5 million into two seasons of Andor. That figure tops the cost of any Star Wars movie. The studio and the media have tried to sell the show as a success, but these numbers, drawn from public UK filings, tell a different story, and highlight how streaming giants now pour movie-level cash into the content these days.

The show’s budget hit more than $21 million per episode. UK tax rebates cut the net cost to about $576 million. Parrot Analytics claims Andor brought in over $300 million in subscriber revenue through 2024. That leaves Disney far short of breaking even on its own terms. Showrunner Tony Gilroy admitted the problem when he said “streaming is dead” for budgets like this. Once the costs and the vieweship numbers came in, Disney scrapped any Season 3 plans.

Admittedly, viewership started strong for Season 2. Nielsen clocked 721 million minutes at debut. But the numbers dropped off quick, and the churn rates hit nearly 25 percent after the finale. Fans who loved the original Star Wars magic tuned out this slow slog. So what did Disney do to recover? They raised prices again in September with the ad-supported tier going from $9.99 a month to $11.99, and their premium ad-free plan from $15.99 to $18.99 a month, and leaning on bundles to hide weak spots.

Disney hides behind talk of “engagement hours” and ad revenue, but real profits surely remain thin. The company spent $23 billion on content in fiscal 2025. DTC income reached $1.3 billion that year. Spread that thin, it can hardly covers costs like this. It certainly can’t help everytime a Disney princess lectures viewers on the red carpet or Kathleen Kennedy’s crew pushes messaging that drives away paying customers.

Lucasfilm cost Disney $4 billion back in 2012, back in an era when theatrical films regularly delivered a 2.9 times return. Now streaming has turned gold into ash, and Andor proves the point. They can try to spin $300M in subscriber revenue vs. $576M net cost for Andor  as positive return on investment to the investors, but Disney’s not turning a profit on financial fairy dust; they’re bleeding cash on vanity projects.

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