As the age of Peak TV continues with no end in sight, the biggest and most popular shows on the planet are inevitably getting more and more expensive to produce. Amazon shelled out a billion dollars to commit to five seasons of The Lord of the Rings and instantly make it the most costly series in history, and if it follows an eight-episode format, that’s $25 million for each individual installment.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s roster of Disney Plus exclusives are also coming armed with blockbuster budgets as the company funnels the same amount of money into their small screen productions as they would a single feature film. Of course, as the most powerful brand in the entertainment industry, the Mouse House has more than a few pennies to spare, with The Mandalorian also one of the costliest projects on television at a princely $15 million per episode.
However, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told Ahsoka Tano would appear in season 2 of the show months before it was made official – that Disney are planning on increasing their investment in Jon Favreau’s Star Wars series for the next run to give it the scope and scale of a movie that can comfortably sit alongside the Sequel Trilogy in terms of sheer spectacle.
Of course, The Mandalorian is hardly an intimate character study, and the vast backdrops and sweeping expanses are already on a par with what you’d find on the big screen, but the studio reportedly wants to push the boundaries of the episodic format even further. One season of the show currently sets them back about $120 million, but it looks as though the plans are to now hand Favreau a budget closer to Episodes VII, VIII and IX, which cost at least $250 million each to produce.
