Jon Watts and Christopher Ford Explain the Inspiration Behind ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’
The next great Star Wars story begins tonight when the first two episodes of Skeleton Crew arrive on Disney+.
Set in the era of the New Republic, the new streaming series will follow the adventures of a group of kids who find themselves lost in the galaxy. The group finds themselves adrift after accidentally sending a Republic ship into hyperspace.
(L-R): Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) with hoverbikes in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Matt Kennedy. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
During their journey, they meet a mysterious Jedi named Jedi Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), who offers to return them safely home.
The Inspiration Behind ‘Skeleton Crew’
In a recent interview with Disney, series creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford discussed their inspiration behind Skeleton Crew. According to Ford, the creators drew on their own childhood memories.
“The kids are a reflection of that feeling. People have talked about how the show has an Amblin or a Goonies feeling, because the show captures the feeling we had when we were kids watching those movies. We would go outside to ride our bikes and play and hope that an adventure would happen to us. For these kids, that actually happens,” he explained.
(L-R) Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Wendle (Tunde Adebimpe) and KB (Kyriana Kratter) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Although Star Wars has continued to expand its stories in recent years, Skeleton Crew will be unique amongst the franchise canon, as it will primarily focus on a group of ordinary children.
“It’s a perspective that we’ve never really seen before. We’ve never seen the galaxy through the eyes of four 10-year-old kids,” Watts explained.
(L-R) Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) and Hayna (Hala Finley) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
“There have been kids in Star Wars, but it’s never been told from their perspective. That, to me, automatically makes it new and fresh.”
You Don’t Need to Be a ‘Star Wars’ Expert
While Skeleton Crew is certainly set within the preexisting Star Wars universe, viewers do not have to be experts on the franchise to enjoy it.
“There’s a whole universe that already exists, and what we were able to do is simply look at it from a new perspective,” Watts continued.
(L-R) Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law) and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
“You don’t have to go into it with any preexisting knowledge of Star Wars, because the kids are all learning about it for the first time as well. So, that was a fun way to explore a world that we already know and love from a new angle.”
A Star-Studded Lineup of Directors
To help bring their vision to life, Watts and Ford turned to some of the biggest directors in Hollywood, including David Lowery, the Daniels, Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Lee Isaac Chung. Eventually, each director was able to put their own unique spin on the series.
Photo: PEOPLE
“We made a list of all of our favorite directors who had experience either with kids or with VFX, or who had some sort of combination of the two. We then walked them through the script, and we’d also made those animatics for them to watch,” Watts reflected.
Photo: IMDB
“It was really fun to sit back and let them do their thing. I’d been given that sort of freedom at Marvel Studios when I was making the Spider-Man movies, so we tried to do the same thing and let them bring their voice to [Skeleton Crew] in as many ways as they felt that they could.”
‘Skeleton Crew’s’ Young Stars
As opposed to many past Star Wars projects, Skeleton Crew relies heavily on its cast of young actors. Together, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith were able to infuse their characters with individuality while also working as a team.
(L-R) KB (Kyrianna Kratter), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
“That started really early in the writing process. When you have a foursome, it’s almost elemental; you want them to be opposites, but in different combinations,” Ford explained.
“Developing that in a really abstract way is a good place to start. You have to get really specific and find people who embody those archetypes, who make them feel real.”
(L-R): Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and Wim (Ravi-Cabot Conyers) in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
While the showrunners had an idea of how they wanted their characters to come to life, they did make changes after the roles were cast.
“We did a lot of casting, and a lot of really talented kids came through that door. But it’s a different thing when you have this idea of a character in your head,” Watts recalled.
(L-R): Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) in Lucasfilm’s SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
“You just kind of have to wait for that character to walk in the room. We rewrote a lot of the dialogue to match the kids that we later cast, so that they could bring a lot of themselves into the roles.”
Who Is Jod Na Nawood?
Finally, there is Jude Law’s mysterious Jedi Jod Na Nawood.
“We were looking for the character to feel complex — and Jude was able to dive into that. We talked about his backstory and how we wanted it to feel lived in — like he had come from another Star Wars movie you hadn’t seen yet,” Watts teased.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“And he was able to create that feeling somehow. We really kept feeling like he had already been in Star Wars.”
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres tonight on Disney+.
