'Skeleton Crew' Breakdown: What Is Up With At Attin?

Star Wars

Dec 14

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is off to a fantastic start, but at the series' core is the developing mystery of the kid’s homeworld of At Attin. Episode 3 just dropped major revelations and clues about At Attin’s origins and why it is like it is, though not everything was revealed. Today, we at CultureSlate will give our best guesses, examine some clues, and break down the details of this mysterious, sealed-away planet.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

The Old Republic And At Attin

Before Episode 3 of the series, there were a lot of ideas thrown around about when At Attin was founded or what era it was most connected to. Guesses ranged from just before the Prequels to the High Republic, and some guessed the Old Republic, based on pre-release discussions from the show’s creators and footage from the second trailer showing Wim’s money.

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Episode 3 confirmed the third option, that At Attin was originally settled during the Old Republic and was known as one of the Jewels of the Old Republic alongside eight other planets. These worlds were all collectively hidden away and purposefully obscured from the wider galaxy, with no maps leading to them. Despite this, eight of the worlds were destroyed, and At Attin is the only one left.

This lore is entirely original to Star Wars canon and is quite a unique element established for whenever we do jump back into the era of the Old Republic in a larger way in the canon. But, while the planets were established in the Old Republic, have they remained separated from the wider galaxy all of those centuries and millennia? That is a tougher question to answer.

At the start of Episode 3, a security droid states The Supervisor is not willing to search for the missing children due to the risks involved. These likely mean the risk of At Attin being discovered, but is it possible that whoever is in charge is aware of the recent chaos in the galaxy, the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire, and the birth of a struggling New Republic?

That is a question we don’t know the answer to. Some have suggested, modifying earlier guesses, that while At Attin was founded sometime millennia ago, they only more recently restricted themselves from leaving the planet or contacting people off-world. It may also be that At Attin has always been this cut-off, and the people in charge rarely get glimpses at the outside world, possibly coloring their opinion on the galaxy and driving them to their current stance even if they are unaware of the Galactic Civil War.

As for what At Attin specializes in, and why it was hidden away, there were once any number of guesses the fanbase could have made, but thankfully the kids give us a clue in Episode 3. Their parents are involved in financial work, but what does that look like for a planet supposedly cut off from the wider galaxy? Are they getting streams of data fed to them from the outside world by some hidden automatic process? Are these streams falsified following the world sealing itself off? Does At Attin hold some repository of material wealth they manage and handle as best as they can?

Ultimately, we will have to wait for more about the modern status of At Attin and if the events of the show will radically alter the status quo back on this picturesque world.

What Is The Barrier?

But how has At Attin been preventing ships from coming and going or been able to avoid detection? It seems the Barrier has something to do with it. This ever-present anomaly in the skies over At Attin is like a beautiful emerald aurora. But, it is also a prison wall since, as the security droids coldly observe, passing through it is “a violation.” We see very little of the Barrier itself as the kids are passing through it, beyond that, it appears gaseous and green. It is not a physical barrier, as the Onyx Cinder slips through easily enough, but is it a natural barrier or an artificial one?

While looking up into the plant’s skies in shots from Episodes 1 and 2, one can see small red lights seemingly interspaced at equal points across the sky, which might indicate some sort of mechanical origin point for the Barrier in the form of projectors, dispensers, or regulators. But, these lights could also represent sensors monitoring the Barrier or some form of defensive grid that can be raised if ships try to come down to the planet. That would instead make the swirling green clouds a natural phenomenon, but exactly what sort is unclear. Is it radiation-heavy? Is it meant to block ships with intense turbulence but no longer does that? Does it block long-range scans to prevent the detection of the planet? Hopefully, further answers will come as the story nears its end, as at present, there are still no clear answers.

The Hidden Leaders

But who is the one in charge of At Attin, the individual governing access to the Barrier, choosing to leave the kids outside in the wider galaxy? So far in Skeleton Crew, individuals in leadership positions have not been seen by the audience. However, their ominous names, such as “The Supervisor” and “The Proctor” have been mentioned by multiple characters. A theory has been forming around these mysterious leaders, and that is that they are droids or some form of artificial intelligence.

There are three main points of evidence. The biggest is simply the prevalence of droids in At Attin society. Droids are constantly present in people’s lives, they operate public transport, educate children, and security droids patrol the forests and school grounds. A droid is even sent to comfort distraught parents after the kids vanish into outer space, a droid without the proper programming no-less, based on its ineffective handling of the situation.

Meanwhile, a role like The Proctor is entirely mysterious. We are purposefully not shown who or what is in that school office when Wim's father Wendle steps out. A mean principal-like figure, especially if they’re an alien, would surely have been reasonable to appear in a show like Skeleton Crew if they could also come to the door, but instead, it is up to Wendle to deliver the harsh news.

The harshness of that news is also intriguing. At Attin has a society with a lot of analysis and finance-related jobs, while the kids at At Attin Middle School are taught fairly complex mathematical problems and are lauded for seeking work related to these positions. Meanwhile, Wim’s punishment for falling into a ravine after accidentally oversleeping is to have perfection demanded of him, and it is telling that Neel felt he couldn’t ask the droid driving the school vehicle to stop for Wim. Droids, or droid-like thinking, in mathematics and exact, perfect solutions, seem to surround At Attin’s ways of operating, almost as if it is a guiding force in their society while human error or complications generated by everyday life is ignored.

Lastly, a narrative about a world governed by machines is rather new to Star Wars canon, though is certainly more well-known in wider science fiction fare. It would help explain the sense that something is wrong with At Attin, why everything looks and seems perfect, and also maybe why the world has remained so isolated in the modern Star Wars era. A machine being directed to aggressively isolate At Attin from the wider galaxy to great success would explain the heavy use of droids and the seeming harsh measures taken despite life’s circumstances.

Conclusion

Despite At Attin’s idyllic status, something is deeply wrong. Secrets are being kept, and lives are at risk possibly due to directives and orders sent centuries ago to leadership that refuses to evolve to reflect the passage of time. Maybe some of these secrets will be revealed by the end of the series, but if Skeleton Crew’s creators truly do have ideas for its second season, some of the small details of these many mysteries may remain unsolved.

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