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The Star Wars franchise has expanded since Disney took over, releasing shows that explore multiple genres, including heists, war stories, and other adventures. While there have been controversial moments, it's clear it has found its stride. The franchise even hit a new high with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
Skeleton Crew is geared towards a younger audience, but it is packed with lore for the greater Star Wars canon. It feels removed enough from the main story to carve out a new path. The show's antagonist, Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law, is a layered villain that helps flesh out the younger cast and deliver a great pirate story.
Skeleton Crew Is a Genuine Star Wars Adventure Story
On the surface, the entire Star Wars canon could be considered a giant adventure story. However, when it comes to narratives or characters that evoke the same feelings as films like The Goonies or characters like Indiana Jones, there was only Doctor Aphra. More than that, in a franchise that's based so much in history, it's a shock that Skeleton Crew didn't come sooner, as the world is ripe for an archeological adventure.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew follows a group of children who find an old ship and get lost in space. With the help of a Force-sensitive man, later revealed to be the pirate Jod Na Nawood, aka "Mad" Captain Silvo, they explore the far reaches of the galaxy and fight off a band of pirates. In almost every way, this is a classic Steven Spielberg or Richard Donner adventure film, and it captures a tone similar to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
That said, its honest approach to the universe through the eyes of children also shows how little genuine adventures exist in the larger Star Wars canon. Sure, there are Jedi exploring the galaxy or fighting in a massive war, but there are rarely any stories that exist separate from the main heroes and villains and focus solely on world-building. Thankfully, Skeleton Crew not only delivered that but proved how desperate the universe was for that energy.
Jude Law Shines as Space Pirate Jod Na Nawood
Skeleton Crew gave viewers a chance to let the kids take control of the story, and that was one of the smartest things the franchise could've done. For decades, Star Wars has been for everyone, with a heavy emphasis on younger audiences, but it has never actually given children a chance to see themselves in characters closer to their age.
It allowed for fun characters like Neel and Fern to get great moments of hilarity and growth while also showing that their youth is just as much a danger in the galaxy as it is a help, thanks to antagonists like Jude Law's Jod Na Nawood. At first, there was a lot of mystery to his character, as there are so few Force-sensitive individuals in the era of the New Republic. But more than that, it opened a door to play with the idea.
Law did a great job of being a manipulative pirate from the moment he showed up on the screen. To the kids, he seemed like a trustworthy, if not misguided, anti-hero who could eventually form a bond with them. But showing that he was simply a selfish man who would lie to them and leave them for dead without hesitation was a great way to show the brutality of the galaxy.
On the other hand, when speaking with his contemporaries, Jod wasn't the skilled and awesome pirate the children saw. He was a silver-tongued liar who was constantly trying to get himself out of debts and bad situations, not unlike Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. These elements helped make not just an unforgettable antagonist but a surprisingly layered role that brought out the best of Jude Law in every scene.
Skeleton Crew Deserves a Season 2
Skeleton Crew has since become a Star Wars show that, even with low stakes, still had a lot for audiences to enjoy. World-building alone did even more work for the past eras of the galaxy and the present than The Mandalorian.
But even with these facts, there's still no official confirmation that a show as fun and as swashbuckling as Skeleton Crew will get a second season, and it feels like a huge missed opportunity. For starters, the very presence of Attin gives more information about the Old Republic as the children learn more about the Jewels of the Old Republic. Until the show, the Old Republic was one of the least explored eras of Star Wars, making Skeleton Crew more important to it inthe current canon.
There's also Jod's character being Force-sensitive and a pirate, which leads to both a deeper explanation of what Force-sensitive children did when there weren't Jedi looking for them and an exploration of the inner workings of pirates in the Star Wars universe. While these elements aren't particularly important to the canon, they're great for providing context for things previously explored in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The show had every right to stay in its lane and deliver a fun Star Wars story that didn't have to delve into the past of the canon or expand on the workings of the New Republic, and yet it did. Coupled with fun action, an '80s-style adventure story, and characters that are easy to love, it's clear why the series has since become a cult classic.
But for all of its accolades, it will forever be a missed opportunity with every day that passes that a second season hasn't been greenlit.
