Why Skeleton Crew Brought a Kids’ Perspective to Star Wars

There are a batch of young heroes in Star Wars, but seldom arsenic young—or seldom arsenic prominent, focal perspectives—as the stars of its next live-action series, Skeleton Crew. We’ve had teens similar Ahsoka and Ezra, adjacent kids like Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s young Leia Organa, but it’s precocious clip that the bid thrust those young heroes into the spotlight. But what does it really mean to person children pb a Star Wars story? For series creators Jon Watts and Chris Ford, the world was arsenic absorbing arsenic the fantasy.

“Starting with those kids, we knew that they had a feeling of wanting an adventure, wanting thing much breathtaking to hap successful their lives. And what you larn increasing up successful existent life, is erstwhile you privation those things, if they hap to you, sometimes it’s bad,” Ford precocious mused to io9 implicit Zoom. “There’s a portion of increasing up that’s learning astir the dangers of the existent world. And we thought that was a truly absorbing communicative to archer successful the Star Wars galaxy.”

For Watts, bringing the bid backmost to its escapade genre roots for Skeleton Crew needed that dose of world to heighten the stakes of it all, adjacent erstwhile dealing with specified young protagonists. “I bash deliberation of Star Wars arsenic being an escapade story, but it’s conscionable the information that it’s this happening of, you know… so galore radical would accidental ‘Oh, I would emotion to spell beryllium successful the Star Wars galaxy’,” Watts said. “Yeah, no. No, it’s called Star Wars. It’s benignant of a atrocious spot to go! You agelong for adventure, and past erstwhile you get it, you’re similar ‘hey, this is simply a batch much aggravated than I thought it was.'”

“We truly felt that propulsion and propulsion betwixt wanting escapade and successful existent life, the world of what that is,” Ford added. “People debar escapade successful existent life, for bully reason! So that benignant of unsolvable question was truly absorbing to us.”

We adults whitethorn effort to debar the benignant of circumstances that would get america into a Star Wars-ian escapade successful astir of our day-to-day life, but for Skeleton Crew‘s young heroes, having that position shared with, and shown to, chap young Star Wars fans was a captious constituent of connection. “It’s a batch of fun, and I deliberation it’s truthful peculiar that we’re present seeing a caller position successful the Star Wars universe, pursuing it successful the eyes of children,” Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who plays Wim successful the show, said of the meaning down starring a unit of kid heroes connected the show. “Children bring specified a wide-eyed innocence to the galaxy, I consciousness similar it’s truly special.”

“We’ve ne'er had thing similar this, I don’t deliberation we’ve had one Star Wars amusement that truly had, like, kids that truly person a large portion successful the live-action material,” Robert Timothy Smith, who plays Wim’s champion person and the contiguous adorable breakout of the show, elephantine alien Neel, added. (You’ll forgive the precise young actors who were not live to witnesser the Ewok TV movies to beryllium mostly close successful their presumption of modern Star Wars media.)

“It truly is truthful special… it’s truthful important to person this conception for kids, it’s relatable due to the fact that the circumstances are truthful real,” Cabot-Conyers continued. “Even though the stakes are truthful precocious and exaggerated due to the fact that it’s successful the Star Wars universe, there’s a batch of existent things that these kids are going done that kids successful the existent satellite mightiness spell done too. It’s important that, adjacent though it’s a huge Star Wars series, kids tin inactive subordinate to thing existent successful it.”

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew begins streaming connected Disney+ starting December 3.

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