It's not a story Disney would tell you. Long before The Mouse House acquired Lucasfilm and Star Wars in 2012, George Lucas had planned for an ambitious TV show set in a galaxy far, far away.
Now, producer Rick McCallum explains why Star Wars: Underworld never got off the ground – and it was largely due to budget concerns.
Speaking on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast (H/T Variety), McCallum described Star Wars: Underworld's failure to get made as "one of the great disappointments of our lives."
"The problem was that each episode was bigger than the films, so the lowest I could get it down to with the tech that existed then was $40 million an episode."
Star Wars: Underworld already had sets built, concept art drawn up and – according to McCallum – over 60 "sexy" and "violent" scripts from the "most wonderful writers in the world", a figure that would have presumably tipped Star Wars: Underworld into a budget nearing billions of dollars. In short, it wasn't feasible.
"[It] would’ve blown up the whole Star Wars universe and Disney would’ve definitely never offered George to buy the franchise," McCallum remarked.
First revealed at 2005's Star Wars Celebration, Star Wars: Underworld aimed to bridge the gap between the prequel and original trilogies in more mature fashion than the for-all-ages space operas of the first six movies.
"Tonally the series is so different from the six movies. It’s so much darker and much more dangerous, and it’s so much more convoluted because it has to do with families in a much more provocative way," McCallum previously told SFX in its peerless history of Star Wars: Underworld. "It’s a much more adult story. It’s not a kids’ story anymore."
McCallum added that "other than Boba Fett" it would have been largely a new cast of characters and had grand aspirations to match the prestige tier of "The Sopranos, The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, all of that group."
Test footage for Star Wars: Underworld was leaked in 2020, with the footage revealing a rich, moody atmosphere filled with Blade Runner-esque stylings and an Empire showcasing a harder edge.
Since then, we've heard precious little – but McCallum's latest comments paint the picture of a series that would have been Lucas' dream project, scuppered by the small matter of needing hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars to see it to fruition.
For more, check out the upcoming Star Wars movies that are currently in development.
