‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’: What To Know About the New Disney Plus Series (2024)

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is a new eight-episode Disney+ series, the first two episodes of which premiere on December 2.

The latest live-action Star Wars series stars Jude Law and a cast of up-and-coming young actors in a story about four children who make a mysterious discovery on their home planet and end up getting lost in a strange and scary galaxy far, far away. To find their way home, they will encounter friends and foes as they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives.

Read on to learn when Skeleton Crew is set on the Star Wars timeline, who the lead characters are, and why The Goonies inspired the series.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Is Set During the New Republic Era

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is set during the New Republic era following the events of Return of the Jedi, roughly the same time period as Ahsoka and The Mandalorian.

“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,” says head writer and executive producer Christopher Ford. “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.”

Ford continues, “It’s an adventure that takes kids seriously as characters, because I think many of us craved that same feeling of escape and empowerment when we were younger.”

Children Are the Root of the Star Wars Saga

Executive producer Jon Favreau says that Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is like seeing the wonders and dangers of the galaxy for the first time from the perspective of children. Executive producer Dave Filoni expands on this description.

“Star Wars began as a fun, aspirational adventure for kids,” says Filoni. “What makes us love it so much is that it was so formative to us when we were young. It provided kids with not just a sense of adventure but an uplifting feeling that they can achieve something, that they can be a hero, that they can go outside their world and face whatever’s out there. While we broaden the franchise to be much more generation-spanning across different mediums, I think we always have to have a strong foundation in what the root of Star Wars is, and Skeleton Crew is a story that’s in that vein.”

Jude Law Plays a ‘Lost Soul’ Named Jod Na Nawood

Oscar nominee Jude Law plays an enigmatic, roguish character named Jod Na Nawood on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. The writers say that Law not only has a classic charm, but something “special and funny” happens when he appears on-screen opposite child actors.

“I feel very lucky,” says Law. “I was handed a wonderful character, and I hope people find his complicated, multifaceted, ambiguous past and present as intriguing as I did. He is both big brother, father, teacher and pupil to the children. He’s a sort of lost soul in many ways. You can’t pin him down, and I think that’s the point.”

Law adds, “He is someone who never had a childhood, so he looks at these children not as children, just as little adults, people out there surviving just like him, which I think provokes great humor, but it also provokes hard knocks and tough lessons.”

Ravi Cabot-Conyers Plays Wim

Hundreds of child actors auditioned before the showrunners found four special kids who embodied the qualities of the characters. One of them is Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who plays a young boy named Wim.

“Wim really wants to be involved in an adventure,” says Cabot-Conyers. “He’s a regular kid who’s a bit bored with life on his home planet. He yearns for more, like in the fantastical stories he is reading in his books.”

Ryan Kiera Armstrong Plays Fern

Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays the tween character Fern on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Armstrong played the title role in 2022’s Firestarter and appeared on American Horror Story: Red Tide.

“Fern is not your average girl,” says Armstrong. “She’s at an interesting age. She’s not quite a kid and not quite a teenager. She has this tough outside that she presents to people, but really on the inside, she has a big heart and just wants to protect her friends.”

Kyriana Kratter Play KB, a Shy Kid With Cybernetic Implants

On Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Kyriana Kratter plays KB, a shy child who needs cybernetic implants and a visor due to an accident. Kratter plays the recurring character Nadine on the Disney series Bunk’d.

“KB’s ‘augs’ go around her ear and the back of her neck and then her visor,” says Kratter. “While the technology does provide her with some special abilities, KB feels most kids don’t really accept her because she is different — except for Fern, of course.”

Robert Timothy Smith Plays the Alien Character Neel

Robert Timothy Smith plays Neel, the “best friend alien character,” on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Smith appears in his human form opposite Jack Black in the movie Dear Santa.

“Neel is a very nice person, and he wants to be everybody’s best friend,” says Smith about his Skeleton Crew character. “He’s the glue in the group and wants to make sure everybody’s loved and okay.”

SM-33 Is the Cantankerous Droid on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Nick Frost voices SM-33 — the requisite droid with attitude — on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. English actor Frost is best known for his hilarious turns opposite Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End.

“SM-33 is the decrepit first mate of a mysterious starship called the Onyx Cinder,” says Star Wars: Skeleton Crew cocreator Jon Watts. “He’s one of our favorite characters due in large part to the fact that he is voiced by the incredible Nick Frost, who gives him so much life and personality. SM-33 is battle-worn with a patchy memory, but he can be relied upon to enforce long-standing pirate ship protocol, and he is fiercely loyal to whomever the current captain is.”

The Goonies Highly Influenced Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Jude Law says, “One of the many hooks that was pitched to me, in addition to the Star Wars world, was this sense of applying to it this Amblin or more specifically Goonies tone, and I absolutely got it immediately.”

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew production designer Doug Chiang echoes Law’s enthusiasm about the Goonies inspiration.

“I always wanted to do a Star Wars-meets-Amblin-Goonies film, and the story and scripts that Watts and Ford brought to the table were terrific,” says Chiang. “They were just fun. Reading them, I just had a huge smile on my face all the time because it seemed like an adventure that I wanted to see, and I wanted to go on myself.”

Law adds, “I genuinely think Skeleton Crew is embracing and celebrating the world of Star Wars that we know and love and adding a quality that perhaps we haven’t seen. It’s from the children’s perspective, but not in a patronizing or necessarily overly innocent way. There are battles, fistfights, blaster fights, and chases through space. It’s incredibly fun to watch. For the family, it’s moving and exciting. It’s got a lot of charm.”

Bryce Dallas Howard Directs One Episode

Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard directs episode six of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.Howard previously directed episodes of both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Other directors of the eight Star Wars: Skeleton Crew episodes include Jon Watts, David Lowery, the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Jake Schreier, and Lee Isaac Chung.

After the first two episodes premiere December 2 on Disney+, one episode will drop every Tuesday for the remainder of the season. May the Force be with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.