George Lucas’ Canceled Star Wars Show was Violent, Sexy, & Expensive

A recent report indicates that George Lucas was developing a TV series that would have “blown up the Star Wars universe” in the years before Disney’s acquisition.

Key takeaways:

• George Lucas’ Producer Rick McCallum recently appeared on the Young Indy Chronicles podcast and revealed the cancelled project Star Wars: Underworld

• McCallum states that the show would have “blown up the whole Star Wars universe” and that “Disney definitely never would’ve offered George to buy the franchise”

• Despite Lucas’ historic belief that Star Wars was mostly for children, McCallum claims that this show would be much different

“They were sexy. They were violent. They were absolutely wonderful, complicated, challenging scripts.”

Lucasfilm

By the numbers:

• 60 scripts were reportedly written

• Each episode would have cost $40 million - twice as much as Andor

• The total series would have eclipsed $2.4 billion

• With these estimates after inflation, Star Wars: Underworld would have become the most expensive television series ever made

While plot details of the potential series are still unknown, test footage was released years ago that gives a brief taste of the visual effects.

Even though Star Wars: Underworld never saw the light of day, it’s heartening to know that live-action television was on the creator’s mind over a decade before The Mandalorian ever brought Grogu to our screens.