Star Wars: Skeleton Crew officially wrapped things up this week, and we caught up with the series’ co-creators, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, to unpack the epic season finale and get answers to some of the most pressing questions. The finale saw the core four—Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), and KB (Kyriana Kratter)—in a race against time to stop Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law) and his wily pirate crew from overtaking At Attin.
During our wide-ranging conversation, Watts and Ford exclusively revealed what species Neel is, spoke about how the “Great Work” that At Attin was part of is connected to The High Republic era’s Great Works, and teased the fate of Tak Rennod. Additionally, they discussed how Jod’s character evolved once Jude Law was cast in the role, clarified when Jod was taken in by the Jedi he spoke about in the finale, and revealed how certain moments are open to interpretation. You can read the full transcript of the conversation below.
COLLIDER: I am really curious to know how much Skeleton Crew evolved from your original pitch for the series.
JON WATTS: Our original pitch was very, very simple and open-ended. It was: A group of kids get lost in the galaxy and then have to find their way home. So I would say, as a jumping-off point, we did do exactly that. We just filled in some of the blanks a little bit more.
Were there ever discussions about setting it in a different time period, or was it really this era and the way everything is really shifting around in the galaxy that made it the perfect kind of jump point for the series?
CHRISTOPHER FORD: At the beginning, it was open. They were very open about how it could be lots of different time periods, and it just felt like this was the right one for the story in the end.
WATTS: Especially with [Jon] Favreau and [Dave] Filoni coming on board as producers. That was their area of expertise, as well, so it all slotted in nicely.
Jod’s Character Evolved Once Jude Law Was Cast in ‘Skeleton Crew’

It definitely does. I’ve basically told everybody who will listen to me that Jod has quickly become one of my top five Star Wars characters. He’s officially knocked out Cade Skywalker out of the running for a top spot. How did that character develop? I just think he’s so fascinating. I love the concept of a Force user who wasn’t strictly, purely a Jedi.
WATTS: We had written it as that, but then, really, it was when Jude [Law] came on board that we started to get into the details and the nuance. Ford, you can speak to that.
FORD: Not just his performance in the moment, but we talked about the character, and it deepened it. In rewrites, it became more specific. At first, we just wanted it to be a foil to the kids. Here’s this cynical, worldly, rascally con man guy to play against their innocence. But what he was able to find were all those weird parallels between them that made it so much more meaningful.
WATTS: When you have an actor of Jude’s caliber, you realize that you can exist more in the gray area for someone like that. You don’t have to be quite as binary in the characterization. He can find all that nuance and layers and really give it depth.
FORD: Star Wars-wise, it’s a big galaxy, so we were excited to have the slightly, but not too much of a departure, take on using the Force and being a Jedi.
WATTS: It’s been great watching. We were not really able to talk about Jod’s turn when we were doing all of our initial press, and so now it’s nice to finally talk about that. It’s been really fun watching people online really, truly believe that he was going to have a redemption arc. They were like, “He’s going to have to sacrifice the gold to save the kids,” and just sitting there knowing that’s not what we did and that we were sort of setting up that aspect to it.
FORD: But people still went along on that ride, I think. I was worried that they would get mad at us [about Jod]. But Jude’s performance is what makes that work.
Characters don’t always need to be redeemed.
FORD: Yeah. I think he’s redeemed when he chooses not to murder everyone in the end.
Exactly.
WATTS: That’s a choice.
FORD: He chooses that.
I got very much the Captain Hook references, and obviously it’s easy to make those parallels because David Lowery directed two episodes and directed Jude Law as Captain Hook. He’s kind of stuck with that image now in my mind. Was that something that was already baked into the character, or was that one of those elements that started to come together once that swagger was there, that character type?
FORD: That kind of comes with just piracy in general. I think that we were less looking at Hook as we were looking at Long John Silver.
That was my next question, because of Captain Silvo.
FORD: Yes.
Another clarifying question because I’ve seen back and forth from fans online — did he get found by the Jedi before Order 66 or after Order 66? Can you answer that question?
FORD: I think we can answer that.
WATTS: Sure!
FORD: Basically, yeah, it’s supposed to be a post-Order 66 Jedis trying to survive out of time.
That’s what I was hoping, because that opens the world up to so much more potential.
FORD: Yeah, it’s supposed to all be implied by the word “hunted” when he’s saying that.
‘Skeleton Crew’s Finest Moments Are Open For Interpretation

Image via Disney+

Exactly! Week over week, fans have been so eager to find Easter eggs and allusions to other Amblin projects and other Disney projects. Have there been any Easter eggs that you brought to the series that fans haven’t found yet? Because I know you’re all looking at Reddit.
WATTS: Yeah, they’re Easter eggs from dumb YouTube videos that Fortnite made that are deeply buried in the show.
FORD: Those are the deepest cuts.
WATTS: Those are the deepest cuts.
FORD: Also, people find Easter eggs that we didn’t even intend, but they are in there. So they’re right, and we’re wrong.
I love that. Am I right to assume that Jod looking out the window is a Fight Club reference? Please don’t take that from me.
FORD: That’s a perfect example. I don’t think we consciously thought that, but yeah. If you put on the Pixies over that shot…
WATTS: That shot is such a great shot because we all had an idea of what it meant — Jude had an idea of what it meant — and then you put it out into the world, and you realize that people are projecting so many different ideas onto that one moment. It’s just the perfect movie moment.
FORD: It’s cinema!
WATTS: The less you say about it, the better, because it becomes so open to interpretation.
It says something about how impactful the series is that there are so many people talking about what their interpretations were and there is this conversation. That’s what I love about open-ended moments. That leads me to my next question, which is the series ended in a very open-ended way. How many conversations went into what the final shots were going to be and the note that you wanted to leave things on? I personally love Wim they’re looking up at the pilots flying overhead — it reminded me of Broom Boy at the end of The Last Jedi and that same hopeful feeling.
WATTS: It’s also very Empire of the Sun. We were doing a lot of Spielberg references throughout the series.
FORD: It’s funny that you say it’s open-ended because we wanted it to have an ending and not be just another cliffhanger because we knew we were messing with people with so many cliffhangers. We were inspired by those old pirate serials and stuff, or even Flash Gordon, and being like, “No, really, we’re going to end on a ‘What?!’ moment.” But, yeah, we wanted the kids to get home and have this story have it’s beginning, middle, and end. But then, if you’re a super fan of the Star Wars galaxy, you have all these questions about, like, “What happens with all this money? What happens to Jod?” Etcetera.
I have a lot of big questions, like what’s going to happen to At Attin now the galaxy can see it, and they can see them? There’s so much potential there for more storytelling.
WATTS: That’s what we were counting on.
Hopefully, we can get a Season 2!
WATTS: We’d love that.
Jon Watts and Chris Ford Answer Burning Questions about Tak Rennod and Neel

Image via Lucasfilm

I think a lot of people would love that as well. There were a couple of specific questions about little details. Is the Great Work that’s referenced throughout on At Attin the Great Works that are in the High Republic era?
WATTS: Yeah, I mean I didn’t want to have to like fully step into that part of the universe and [have the] people working on it be like ‘It is that!’ But it’s supposed to feel connected, so if it’s not literally connected it’s still an idea that existed in the galaxy at a certain time of like ‘We can do better. We can do great things.’ And I think both At Attin and the works of [Chancellor Lina Soh] were coming from the same place if they’re not directly related. But maybe they are.”
FORD: The idea of—because they’re secluded—what it originally meant, could have evolved over time.
WATTS: Yeah, because it’s different on At Achrann.
Is Tak Rennod one of the skeletons on the ship, or is he out there somewhere in the galaxy? Because you very pointedly didn’t let us see his face.
WATTS: Yes.
FORD: It certainly seems like he’s one of the skeletons on the ship.
WATTS: Want to leave it at that?
FORD: I think we could leave it at that.
WATTS: I will say, that did happen a long time ago, and there are lots of long-live species.
FORD: He’d be very old.
Speaking of species, what species is Neel? Are we ever going to get that, or do we need to wait for the visual dictionary to come out down the line?
FORD: Well, that’s why you gotta shell out for that visual dictionary. That’s where all the hottest scoops are revealed. There’s a word we wrote…
WATTS: Should we just say for the Collider interview? Should we just say what it is?
FORD: It’s just a made-up word… [Laughs]
WATTS: It’s going to be a made-up word no matter when you say it.
FORD: It just feels so weird. We kind of give that to the keepers of the Holocron, and I haven’t got the full sign-off on, like, that checks out.
WATTS: I’m trying for a scoop here, Maggie.
I know! I don’t want to get anybody in trouble.
FORD: I’m still afraid to make a Star Wars thing.
You’ve made it. It’s officially out there!
WATTS: Don’t want to anger the keeper of the Holocron.
This is true. Is that Pablo [Hidalgo] these days?
FORD: Have Pablo and Leland [Chee], right?
Yeah!
[Editor’s Note: After the interview, Ford provided me with Neel’s species. He is a Myykian.]
Will We Get ‘Skeleton Crew’ Bloopers or Deleted Scenes?

So I know Disney has been doing really fantastic steelbook releases for some of their series. Has there been any conversation yet? And will the art for that look like the gorgeous storybook credits?
FORD: That would be really cool.
WATTS: We haven’t talked about that yet. But that would be cool. We also just got Steve Purcell, who did Sam & Max and all that. He did a fun custom poster for us, as well. That was great. I love any of the fan art. People have done some amazing Neels in many mediums.
FORD: Yeah, people have made their own Neel stuffies and stuff.
I love all the cosplays with Neel that I’ve seen. It’s great. I love that Neel and bubble baths are just a mood for everyone.
WATTS: That’s the first thing he does when he gets back home!
He’s so me. Are there any deleted scenes that fans can see or bloopers down the line?
WATTS: Did we ever cut together a blooper reel? There are certainly some deleted scenes. Nothing that wildly changes the story. There would be some pretty fantastic bloopers. I mean, the kids are kids, so there’s some really good stuff.
FORD: They have this archive of awesome behind-the-scenes stuff. I’m not sure what the plan is with it, but it exists. But it’s like Jon says, the deleted scenes don’t change anything. We honed things, and so it’s interesting on a filmmaking level, but not on a Star Wars level of, like, what else is happening on At Attin.
WATTS: I remember being a kid, and you’d watch deleted scenes from a movie, and it’s like, “Oh, originally, that scene started with the character opening a door and walking in.” That wasn’t really worth it.
I know. We’re starting to lose that, though. Kids these days don’t know the movie-making magic of deleted scenes and DVD openings.
FORD: It seems like it’s easy to put extras on streaming, as opposed to on a DVD.
WATTS: It would be funny to show some scenes with Robert [Timothy Smith].
FORD: Oh, yes! That would be really cool. That’s fun. It’s a great idea.
It’s a lot of fun stuff.
FORD: He breaks the magic. It’s like you can never show the puppeteer.
One thing I really love about Skeleton Crew is the fact that it isn’t really connected to any of the other properties in so much that it’s kind of in its own world because of the way At Attin is described. Once they got out of there, there were obviously opportunities that they could have run into characters that are recognizable. Can you talk about the decision to keep it so distinctly separate? I personally love not having those moments, but I know that’s a thing that people are interested in.
WATTS: It feels like when you do that too often, it starts to make the world feel small. The whole point was that it was supposed to feel like a massive world that’s overwhelming to the kids. But I think now what’s interesting is the idea that At Attin is a part of the larger galaxy. It’s no longer this secret, secluded planet. So the idea of seeing the kids grow up and then seeing where they would potentially interact and crossover with that larger world now, now that you’ve got to know the kids separate from it, I think is more interesting dramatically to grow up with them, and, as they get older, see their perspective change.
In my last 30 seconds, I’ll tell you my funny Skeleton Crew story. This show is so much like the story that my friends and I came up with when we were all 12 years old. I was homeschooled, and I went to this summer camp and ran into these kids on the bus who were also homeschooled, and we were all wearing Star Wars shirts.
WATTS: [Laughs] We’re all from At Attin!
We’re all from At Attin! We decided to come up with a story where we were Padawans on the run. Our Jedi Master was Jude Law because The Holiday had just come out, and we were obsessed with Jude Law. We ran away from the Jedi Order, won a pirate ship in a Sabacc game, and became pirates.
WATTS: That’s so cool!
I even have a photo of our ship, which was a black ship with flames on it. Very Onyx Cinder.
FORD: [Laughs] That’s what a kid would do!
WATTS: That makes me so happy.
I was a pirate with a blue lightsaber.
WATTS: That is awesome!
FORD: That makes me feel like we did it right.
You did. Literally.
FORD: That’s crazy.
It’s been so fun. You definitely captured what it was like to be a 12-year-old terrorizing a Force user that looked like Jude Law.
WATTS: They came up with Jude Law, too? That’s pretty crazy.
FORD: But he always felt like he was in Star Wars already in that way.
Stream the entire first season of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+ and stay tuned to Collider for all of the latest Star Wars news.

Four kids make a mysterious discovery on their home planet that leads them to get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy.

Release Date

December 2, 2024

Cast

Jude Law
, Ravi Cabot-Conyers
, Ryan Kiera Armstrong
, Kyriana Kratter
, Robert Timothy Smith
, Nick Frost
, Fred Tatasciore
, Jaleel White
, Dale Soules
, Geoffrey Lower
, Marti Matulis
, Sisa Grey
, Dominic Burgess
, Vivienne Sachs
, Esai Daniel Cross
, Shane Almagor
, Paloma Garcia-Lee
, Alan Resnick
, Anthony Atamanuik
, John Gemberling
, Tunde Adebimpe
, Kerry Condon
, Alia Shawkat
, Cass Buggé
, Geneva Carr

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Franchise(s)

Star Wars

Directors

David Lowery
, Bryce Dallas Howard
, Jake Schreier
, Lee Isaac Chung
, Daniel Scheinert

Expand

Stream on Disney+