Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Wants to Explore a New Age of Space Piracy

The next Star Wars TV amusement is whisking america backmost to the post-Return of the Jedi mounting of the likes of Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian, which we’ve already seen plentifulness of arsenic a beauteous lawless place. Bounty hunters moving amok, backstage mercenary forces filling the gaps the New Republic is struggling to cover, full shipyards afloat of Imperial loyalists hijacking hyperdrives similar they’re going retired of fashion. But portion that’s been connected the fringes of those different stories, Skeleton Crew wants to marque this piratical resurgence its halfway foil to its young heroes.

““Pirates are talked astir truthful overmuch successful Star Wars,” Skeleton Crew co-creator Christopher Ford told Entertainment Weekly successful a caller preview of the upcoming series. “People would telephone Han Solo a pirate and he’d beryllium like, ‘How situation you?’ And we’ve seen immoderate awesome pirates successful the animated shows. So this was thing wherever some [executive producers] Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau were truly excited to bash much pirate stuff.”

We’ve seen a fewer glimpses of conscionable what Skeleton Crew means for that already, re-introducing america to Vane, Marti Matulis’ Nikto pirate who appeared in The Mandalorian play 3, and a caller motley unit he’s moving with, successful the footage shown astatine D23 this summer. A caller look springiness to EW contiguous besides revealed that unit is expanding to see Jaleel White arsenic a cyborg named Gunter. But wherefore is piracy specified a large happening successful the show? Well, you tin convey a deficiency of Imperials for that.

© Lucasfilm via Entertainment Weekly

“With the epoch we’re in, we’re benignant of getting to play with that lawless thing,” Ford added. “The Empire is gone, and truthful we’re playing with a portion of the postulation that has a resurgence of piracy.”

The transgression underworld thriving successful the look of wider galactic tumult has agelong been a happening in Star Wars. From Hondo Ohnaka hamming it up each the mode through Clone Wars, to Han’s ain presumption arsenic a scoundrel and smuggler successful the archetypal movies, and past up to modern Star Wars TV playing successful that abstraction much than it does the Rebel/Republic vs Imperial broadside of things, it’s been an country that Star Wars has mined repeatedly betwixt its tales of galactic conflict. Hell, we just got Star Wars Outlaws, which, portion acceptable a fewer years before Skeleton Crew, was beauteous overmuch astir the aforesaid thing. The lone happening that’s truly antithetic astatine this constituent is that the ruling powerfulness successful the postulation is the “heroes” of the New Republic, compared to the Empire, but arsenic these shows person already shown america successful fits and starts, to galore that alteration of hands is not truly overmuch of a difference astatine the extremity of the day.

But Skeleton Crew isn’t conscionable redeeming that caller generational reasoning for its piratical foes: it’s seemingly redeeming it for Jude Law’s mysterious Jod Na Nawood, too. Speaking of enforcement shaper and Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni’s religion in Star Wars canon, Ford concisely teased the show’s thought for Jod, who we already knew was Force-sensitive, arsenic thing dissimilar Jedi we’ve seen before. “And helium gets some sides of that due to the fact that [Dave] did that [mentoring under] George Lucas. So helium gets that happening of, ‘I privation to marque a full caller benignant of a Jedi,’ and past idiosyncratic being like, ‘Okay, clasp on. A batch of radical person thought astir this. Let’s bash this the close way.’ And it’s truthful helpful.”

A caller benignant of Jedi, for a caller property of pirates? We’ll person to spot what else Skeleton Crew‘s kid heroes get themselves wrapped up successful erstwhile the amusement hits Disney+ December 3.

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