Jon Watts and Chris Ford, the filmmakers behind Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, are excited to introduce a story of secret treasure and curious kids for anyone who’s up for a journey into the stars.
Seeking advice on casting his squad of young actors for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, creator Jon Watts looked to the longtime film and television director who had brought together The Goonies: the late Richard Donner.
It was just a few weeks before Donner passed in 2021. “And he said the smartest thing, which was when you’re looking at a 10-year-old kid, you’re not [just] casting an actor to play a role,” Watts recalls. “You’re looking for someone that embodies the spirit of the character. So that’s what was always in the back of my mind.”
The story of Skeleton Crew, set in the era of the New Republic, carries forward much of the same heart and sense of adventure inherent in The Goonies and other stories of the era, including the classic LucasArts game Monkey Island, Amblin Entertainment’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones franchise. “It’s the story of kids who happen to live on what they think of as a boring planet,” says series co-creator Chris Ford. But as they go on this adventure, finding their way back quickly becomes complicated. “Unfortunately, along the way they attract the attention of a bunch of pirates and other space criminals.”
“I loved Monkey Island as a kid and I still do, and so getting to do space pirates was something that allowed me to check back in,” says Watts, including carrying Marti Matulis’ Vane over from The Mandalorian Season 3 and introducing a bevy of new brigands including Brutus, voiced by Fred Tatasciore, and Gunter, played by Jaleel White. “And Amblin always stands out to me because there was a feeling that they took the kids seriously. They didn’t feel like kids’ movies when you watched them as a kid, and even now looking back, they feel like grown up films that just happened to star kids.”
The series creators had the idea for Skeleton Crew before the release of their critically acclaimed film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), featuring another young protagonist who is suddenly thrust into excitement and adventure. “I think many of us craved that same feeling of escape and empowerment when we were younger,” Ford adds. “We’ve all pondered our place in the universe, and this story explores the galaxy through a unique perspective, which is the curious mind of the child in all of us. In this case, an imaginative day dreamer, a risk taker, a loyal best friend and a tech wiz. These kids are in danger. They’re in over their heads.”
Enter Jod
The series lead, a mysterious character named Jod Na Nawood, ultimately went to Academy Award-nominee Jude Law. “Before we met him, we wanted to cast him,” Ford admits. “We wanted that sense of roguishness and that feeling that he’s a leading man that happens to get stuck with these kids.”
Luckily, Law was all in. “I remember the first time we got on the phone with him and he was so excited to delve into the character and make him so nuanced and real,” Ford adds. “He had so many ideas and that’s when we learned that he’s a giant Star Wars fan, which is a gift.”
Law was game for new acting challenges, with an array of puppet creatures, aliens, and droids as scene partners. “Jude going toe-to-toe with a tiny little hand puppet really brings out a different kind of performance,” Watts says.
Rounding out the main cast is Nick Frost, voicing the new droid SM-33, alongside co-stars Kerry Condon and Tunde Adebimpe, playing Fern’s mom, Fara, and Wim’s dad, Wendle.
“We prerecorded a lot of Nick’s dialogue so that on set the droid would be speaking with his voice,” Watts says. “That was really helpful for the other actors because Nick has such great and specific comedic timing that it helped everyone understand the tone and the vibe of SM-33.” In the style of other droids who have come before, SM-33 has a personality all his own, injecting humor and levity into the perilous adventure ahead. But on set, when new lines were added, each director would take a turn doing their own best SM-33 impression, the filmmakers add with a laugh.
Read more at StarWars.com and watch the new trailer here. The two episode premiere of Skeleton Crew will stream on Disney+ from December 4th in the UK/Europe and December 3rd in North America.
