Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is a new series on Disney+ that was announced during Star Wars Celebration 2022, where a whole slew of Star Wars-related information was unveiled to the world. While updated information regarding The Mandalorian season 3 and the reveal of the Ahsoka teaser certainly drew fans' attention, the reveal of Skeleton Crew slipped under the radar somewhat due to being an entirely new series that no one expected. That said, there is not a lot definitively known about it. However, that has not stopped fans from speculating.

Part of what makes Star Wars work so well as a long-running franchise is not simply that the setting is big, but there is so much happening regardless of where one is in the galaxy. It always ties back to the larger narrative. Because of this, much like a Dungeons & Dragons session, any new Star Wars story can be set anywhere, at any time, and follow any group of characters, and it will always be compelling to watch. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) was proof that this approach to storytelling worked. Since then, Disney has been applying this method to most, if not all, of their new Star Wars-related projects.

Even in the galaxy of Star Wars, however, with so much going on, there is always room for something new and different. In fact, something different may very well be welcome in such a vast and dangerous galaxy where everyone is shooting at everyone else. Perhaps Skeleton Crew may fill that niche.

Skeleton Crew: The Plot​​​​

Anakin and the Younglings
Lucasfilm

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew was actually sort of revealed prior to Star Wars Celebration 2022 when director Jon Watts (of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home fame) hinted on his Twitter that he wanted to make a “Goonies-style” story set in the galaxy of Star Wars centering on a bunch of kids. That “Goonies style” Star Wars story, as it turns out, is Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

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The show will center around a group of children, all roughly around ten years of age, who get lost in the Star Wars galaxy and need to find their way home. It is worth noting that during Star Wars Celebration 2022, screenwriter Christopher Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Fuzz) said that while the show will be “about” kids, it is not necessarily “for” kids.

The premise of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew brings to mind a four-episode story arc from season five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars wherein a group of six young Jedi padawans receive their first lightsaber crystals only to be attacked by pirates on their return trip back to Coruscant. While they and fellow Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano are able to successfully fight them off, their ship is left crippled and floating in space. The pirates decide to cut their losses and take just Ahsoka as opposed to everyone and everything they own. As such, alone in space without their masters and only their newly built lightsabers and the Force for comfort, the six padawans band together to figure out how to repair their ship, save Ahsoka, and get all of them back home without any assistance from the Galactic Republic or any other Jedi. While those six padawans may have had lightsabers and the Force, the idea of a group of children being lost in the galaxy could work just as well without the Force, and Skeleton Crew would do well to learn what it can from those four episodes.

Blockade Runner Scene - Star Wars
Lucasfilm

The term “Skeleton Crew” is defined as “the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item, such as a business, organization, or a ship.” With this in mind, it is easy to infer that a ship of some kind will play a role in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Since most Star Wars stories take place in the stars and the known desire of the children to get home, it could very well be possible that the show will center around a group of children on a ship. Perhaps to get home, they will need to act as the “Skeleton Crew.” If Jude Law is not portraying a villain, his role on the ship may be to inform the children of all the things they will need to do to ensure that the craft stays running and assist or lead the group.

Related: Star Wars: Why the Franchise Features Many Orphaned Characters

Skeleton Crew: The Cast

Jude Law in Fantastic Beast: The Secrets of Dumblebdore
Warner Bros. Pictures

Exactly who these children are and who is portraying them has not been revealed yet. However, actor Jude Law was announced in a starring role, though there is no confirmation of who he will play.

Release Date

A release date for the Disney+ series has not been announced.