‘Streaming is dead, we don’t have the money’: ‘Andor’ creator reveals Disney’s shocking confession

It’s safe to say Disney’s streaming output has been a mixed bag. For every excellent WandaVision and The Mandalorian we’ve gotten garbage like Secret Wars and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Perhaps that’s why Disney Plus subscriber figures are in decline, from a high of around 170 million in late 2022 to just 125 million in the first quarter of 2025.

There are a whole bunch of reasons for this: Disney Plus subs took a hit when they lost the licence to broadcast cricket in India, there’s fiercer competition from other streaming services, a cost of living crisis and, simply, that the pandemic saw people trapped indoors with nothing to do, briefly boosting demand.

But, whatever the case, Disney certainly sounds gloomy about the future. One recent shining light for Disney Plus has been the critically acclaimed Star Wars hit Andor, now considered the best thing the franchise has seen since the original trilogy wrapped up with Return of the Jedi.

Showrunner Tony Gilroy has praised Disney and Lucasfilm for the “freedom” they gave him, essentially giving him an incredible $650 million budget for 24 episodes and letting him use that as he wished. The gamble paid off, but he’s now revealed that during the gap between seasons, Disney made a startling admission about their opinion on streaming.

Tony Gilroy confirms the total budget for ‘ANDOR’ was $650M

They had to fight for the necessary funding for S2 after Disney told them “streaming is dead”

(Source: https://t.co/dVz6p04CDq) pic.twitter.com/9S3kFPbndA

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) May 31, 2025

Speaking at a panel at the ATX Television Festival last week, he recounted a meeting with a Disney higher-up who explained: “‘Streaming is dead, we don’t have the money we had before”. This led to arguments over Andor season 2, though Gilroy appears to have triumphed: “we fought hard about money, but they never cleaned anything up. That [freedom] comes with responsibilities.”

Cheaper shows incoming?

Saying that streaming is “dead” to Disney is quite the statement. As per their most recent filings, Disney’s total revenue for Q1 2025 was $24.7 billion, a 5% increase from Q1 2024. However, they also reveal that Disney Plus lost 0.7 million subscribers. Presumably, they have internal data that lets them make predictions for the future that paint a gloomy picture.

All of which means that we were probably lucky to get Andor and don’t expect any shows similar to it anytime soon. Belts are being tightened and budgets restricted, so anticipate upcoming shows that lean heavily on cheaper Volume-style CGI sets and have extremely safe narratives.