A former Lucasfilm producer says George Lucas' abandoned live-action Star Wars show would've cost $40 million an episode and "blown up" the franchise.

George Lucas’ “Star Wars” producer Rick McCallum recently appeared on an episode of the “Young Indy Chronicles” podcast and teased what would’ve been “Star Wars: Underworld,” an ambitious television series that was one of the last “Star Wars” projects Lucas was working on before he sold the franchise to Disney in 2012 for $4.

"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: Underwor

Underworld has become the hottest “show that never was” to be rediscovered by social media platforms and franchise pundits. Thanks to new insights from one of Star Wars‘ most influential creators (producer Rick McCallum,

Star Wars wouldn't exist without the skill and imagination of George Lucas, but even he wasn't immune to making mistakes when he ran the franchise.

A lot of digital ink was spilled over the massive cost of The Acolyte, with smug haters blasting the show for its huge budget and supposedly tarnishing George Lucas ’ legacy because the toxic fandom still can’t handle seeing female characters, particularly in the form of lesbian space witches.

Many Star Wars fans know about George Lucas' cameo in Revenge of the Sith, but odds are they've never spotted his appearance in The Phantom Menace before now.

It completely blows my mind that 60 episodes of a live-action Star Wars show from the George Lucas era have been written...and yet remain unused.