Skeleton Crew Creators Talk Episode 2 Needle Drop, Jude Law Jedi Mystery — Grade the Star Wars Series’ Premiere!
The following contains spoilers from the Star Wars: Skeleton Crew double-episode premiere, now streaming on Disney+. (Subsequent episodes will release every Tuesday, starting Dec. 10.)
The Force is strong with… well, somebody. At least, that appeared to be the case as Episode 2 of Disney+’s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew drew to a dramatic close.
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Hailing from Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home director) and Chris Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming writer), and set during the same timeframe as The Mandalorian, Skeleton Crew Episode 1 saw four kids — Ravi Cabot-Conyers (#BlackAF) as Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong (2022’s Firestarter) as Fern, Kyriana Kratter (BUNK’D) as KB and Robert Timothy Smith as Neel — explore a spacecraft they’d found buried on their mild-mannered home planet of At Attin, and then accidentally launch it into the strange galaxy above.
In Episode 2, the instantly homesick kids met the ship’s “first mate” droid SM-33 (voiced by Nick Frost), who in turn steered them to Port Borgo. At the pirate-infested hangout, Wim’s use of mint condiiton Old Republic credits, coupled with SM-33’s involvement in an ensuing fracas, caused enough of a commotion that the kids got thrown into a brig.
So far from home and with no allies (SM-33 was down for the count), things looked bleak for the youths until a figure emerged from the shadows of their cell and offered t get them back to their ship and “find that planet of yours.”
This man, Jod Na Nawood (played by Jude Law), magically levitated the jail cell keys off a peg, through the bars, and into his grasp, eliciting a gasp from Wim: “You’re a Jedi?!”
“Can you keep a secret?” the man replied.
Coming out of this week’s double-episode premiere, TVLine hit Skeleton Crew creators Watts and Ford with a couple of our early burning questions.
TVLINE | You gave us a brief sample of the “Skywalker Theme” when the brig keys levitated across the room to Jod. Talk about the decision to include that.
JON WATTS | That was such an exciting moment, because we were, like, trying to not do that. We’re trying to not reference those [Skywalker] films so directly, but we were watching it and just in that one moment, [Lucasfilm EVP/CCO] Dave Filoni was the one who was like, “You know, you could put a little bit in there.”
CHRIS FORD | For a lot of people, it’ll jump out at them, but we’re hoping that it’s kind of in there subtly and gives this kind of surreal feeling when you’re watching something float through the air. Because in this show, for the first time, it’s touching on something that seems otherworldly or something.
WATTS | We wanted to try to never lean on that stuff; this was more like “getting to add it” as opposed to using it as a crutch.
TVLINE | The sampling is very subtle, and almost a little obfuscated by the rest of the score. I had to replay it a couple of times to realize, “Oh, they are hitting those notes.”
WATTS | Yeah, it’s just very subtly weaving it in.
FORD | Because the normal part of that score is Jod’s theme, but those two pieces of music are kind of related and can work together, kind of by design.
TVLINE | And in a scene from an upcoming episode, we in passing see a discombobulated 3PO-series droid screaming about how he must save a “prince.” Is that another little nod?
FORD | Oh, we had a lot of fun with that scene with all the broken droids, and the battle droid that turns on and says, “Did we win?” There’s room for that kind of stuff.
WATTS | You just imagine, like, “I wonder what that droid was doing? I wonder what adventure he went on?”
FORD | What’s so cool in the original Star Wars is it always felt like every character would have their own story, if only you could follow them. Like, Boba Fett was just that one guy who made a couple small appearances, but our imaginations went crazy. Each of those droids had their whole own story that we’re just seeing one slice of.
TVLINE | Coming out of Episode 2, will it be a season-long mystery about who or what Jod is? Whether he’s not a Jedi or in fact is a Jedi?
WATTS | The mystery of Jod as a character is something that we continue to tease out throughout the whole show, and yeah, it’s one of the more compelling parts of the story.
FORD | For the kids he’s kind of a stand-in for what the whole galaxy feels like to them. They’re not sure if the galaxy is good, or bad. Is it dangerous? Is it benign? Is it magical? Is it duplicitous? He’s kind of the stand-in for all of those feelings for them.
Want scoop on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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