What Is 'Skeleton Crew' About?
Image Source: StarWars.com
With the recent release of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’s second trailer, many fans have turned to speculating about the show's plot and what elements might appear. We here at CultureSlate want to throw our hats into the ring on this discussion by outlining the likely focuses and speculating about what might be hidden or teased to us fans already.
A Swashbuckling Spielburgian Adventure
The Skeleton Crew trailer that dropped November 1st put its plot foot forward by showing off a story that looks to be heavily drawing from the 80s, and specifically, the vibes of many of Spielberg's films in that era. The show has never hidden these influences, openly describing the show as Star Wars meets Stranger Things at one time and claiming inspiration from sources like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies in the recent StarWars.com article to release alongside the show’s second trailer.
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Image Source: StarWars.com
From what has been revealed so far, it appears that the old ship the group of four kids find and reactivate, called the Onyx Cinder, is a pirate ship. With old (or perhaps Old) Republic credits aboard, the lost kids try to find help at a port crawling with criminals and rough characters who take an immediate interest in these possible riches. Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood then appears to step in to protect the quartet alongside the ship’s droid, SM-33, voiced by Nick Frost. A rollicking adventure plays out across the second trailer, with traps, skeletons, pirate attacks, and finally, a room full of treasure lorded over by a giant metallic skull. Who this treasure belongs to and how SM-33 or the Onyx Cinder factors into the treasure hunt is unclear. But, the show will likely present this adventure as the core story, alongside the usual growth and development of friendship that usually undergoes the kid characters in stories like this.
Healing A Rift?
Image Source: X.com
On that last point, it seems, based on the second trailer, that Wim (played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers) and his father Wendle (played by Tunde Adebimpe) do not see eye to eye. Translating the Aurebesh sign above the office that Wendle steps out of before he sternly disciplines his son, reads “proctor,” suggesting Wendle’s job is at Wim’s school. Even if he is simply coming out of a meeting with the school’s proctor, the division between father and son is clear. We also know that Wendle followed and probably tried to stop Wim from leaving their homeworld, as he is heard calling his son’s name as the Onyx Cinder ascends into the sky, and he looks on, unable to stop it.
Wim’s activation of the Cinder’s hyperdrive, or whatever system caused them to leave the planet, might have been fueled by a deep desire to escape his dad. This divide all but confirms an eventual reconciliation, possibly enforced by a shot of Wendle with Wim, Neel, and KB on their speeder bikes released by Empire Magazine. This could be before the kids all accidentally launch the ship, though, and the trailer elements that suggest a rift could be over-emphasizing a disagreement to indicate a narrative that is not in the series. We will have to wait to find out.
But What About The Mandoverse?
Image Source: StarWars.com
Raucous pirate-themed adventures are fun and all, but fans should prepare themselves for a lot more than just this story element across the eight-episode series. Skeleton Crew, while not precisely placed in the timeline of “The MandoVerse” as it is colloquially known, is still part of that era in the timeline. The show is, therefore, likely to be a vehicle for Star Wars to inform its viewers and fans about more than just the activities of pirates post-Galactic Civil War. The school scenes already look like they will be part of that, informing the viewer about how education works in the Star Wars galaxy and how the average citizen may live based on the suburban housing setting.
The appearance of X-wings in some trailer shots, as well as a New Republic security officer, also suggests that the New Republic will factor into this show in some way. But will it retread the same ground seen in Season 3 of The Mandalorian? We already know that the New Republic is struggling to combat the threat of piracy, so if the show doubles down on this element, will it add new elements to make said retreading worthwhile? There are many ways they might do this, and once again, we will have to wait and watch in just a few short weeks.
The Hidden Homeworld
Image Source: StarWars.com
“They realize once they’re out there that no one’s ever heard of their home planet,” Ford says. “Unfortunately, along the way, they attract the attention of a bunch of pirates and other space criminals.”
The first line of this quote from the November 1st StarWars.com article no longer exists. Edited out just a few hours after the article went live, its removal has enforced a suspicion among some fans that there is much more at play to the non-piracy elements of this show than we once thought. Summaries of Skeleton Crew had always indicated part of the reason the kids would travel through the galaxy was that they were lost, but the how of the situation was never known. This specific line might also enforce a nervous edge seen in part of the second trailer. When Wendle is meeting with Fern’s mom (played by Kerry Condon), she seems surprisingly dismissive about the missing status of the four children, followed by a shot of Wendle nervously looking at a droid with a traffic-camera-style head who turns to look back at him. This model of droid also appears in background shots near the proctor’s office and appears in a brief shot where they are shining intense beams of light into the darkness.
These elements might suggest that the mysterious homeworld is simply a backwater world, perhaps with an authoritarian or unhelpful local government, and the line isn’t meant to be read literally. The trailer might have been edited to manufacture some tension, but there are other possibilities. The planet might have been removed from records and galactic knowledge sources to hide its location, similar to Kamino, though for what purpose is mysterious. It might also be a hidden world based on its location, located near or in a spatial anomaly or phenomenon that masks its presence or makes it difficult to travel to. But it may also be a place purposefully kept secret by a force like the New Republic. Governments keeping locations secret from their average citizens and the wider world is nothing new, especially if the site relates to the military. We might be seeing a similar situation here, be it with the New Republic or perhaps some leftover Imperial faction looking to remain under the radar. With time and, hopefully, more material released as we draw ever closer to the release date, we may be able to speculate more. But we should also always remember to speculate responsibly and try to keep our expectations in check.
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Source(s): StarWars.com, X
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