Actor and director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) is currently hard at work executive producing and writing a live-action Star Wars TV series for Lucasfilm and Disney’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service. Now a new article in the New York Times reveals that the ten-episode first season of the Favreau Star Wars series will have a combined budget of $100 million, making each episode roughly $10 million a piece.
Considering that CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery was one of the most expensive shows in TV history with a budget of between $8 million and $8.5 million per episode then it becomes apparent just how much Disney is investing in both Favreau’s show and its streaming service at large.
“‘Star Wars’ is a big world, and Disney’s new streaming service affords a wonderful opportunity to tell stories that stretch out over multiple chapters,” Favreau said.
Favreau previously told Nerdist that the series will take place seven years after the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Favreau also stated that the show will feature all new characters, and use cutting edge CGI and motion capture technology similar to his The Jungle Book and The Lion King movies.
Lucasfilm also recently announced a new animated series taking place just before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens titled Star Wars Resistance, which will have an Anime-inspired look and debut this Fall.
Disney’s collaborations with Favreau extend back a decade, when he helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe as director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and as an executive producer of the Iron Man and Avengers films for Marvel Studios. For Disney, he directed and produced the massively successful The Jungle Book, which won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking visual effects. He is currently in production on Disney’s highly-anticipated reimagining of The Lion King, set for release in 2019.
Favreau is no stranger to the Star Wars galaxy having voiced the Mandalorian Pre Vizsla in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series and as the CG creature Rio Durant in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The untitled Star Wars live-action series does not yet have a release date but the Disney direct-to-consumer platform will launch in late 2019.
