This year fans were expecting to see a new live-action Star Wars series in the form of, Skeleton Crew, a series set during the same time period as shows including The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett, the often dubbed ‘MandoVerse’, and was created by the Spider-Man: Homecoming team of Jon Watts and Christopher Ford. Unfortunately, Skeleton Crew was delayed out of this year, as I exclusively reported a few months ago, and likely due to the delay, we fans have received little new information about the series outside of the officially realised synopsis. However, today I am here to share a small tidbit on the series.
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As I previously mentioned, in September I shared an exclusive that Skeleton Crew had unfortunately suffered a delay into 2024 and that fans could be left waiting up to November 2024 to see the series on screen. I shared various additional exclusive details in regards to release windows for other series also including The Acolyte, Andor season two and The Mandalorian season four. One thing I knew before that time, but decided to not share as it was not the focus of the article was the name of a prominent character in Skeleton Crew. I’ve been waiting for the right time to share this detail, hoping to get more information before writing about it, but that’s not been the case and my hand has been slightly forced to release it now.
As we’ve seen from concept art, images from Star Wars Celebration, along with a leaked trailer, Skeleton Crew will follow four kids as they embark on an adventure and end up getting lost in the galaxy, with the plot of the series focusing on the children finding their way home with the help of a Force using character played by Jude Law. The four kids are played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who appears to be the lead child from the trailer, Kyriana Kratter, Ryan Keira Armstrong and Robert Timothy Smith, and the character we’re focusing on today is that played by Smith.
As shown at Star Wars Celebration in April, Robert Timothy Smith will be playing an Ortolan, better known as the Max Rebo species. In the trailer shown, Smith’s character had the least amount of screen time of the children, despite being the most interesting visually. I and other fans have often referred to this character as the Max Rebo kid, but today is the day we start referring to the character by their name, NEEL. I am not one hundred percent on the spelling, but I believe the name is spelled Neel, and it’s pronounced as Neil. I personally love the name and find it quite amusing as it’s such a real world name being used for this blue little elephant looking creature.
Skeleton Crew was initially planned to release at the end of last month before its delay, something I first reported in the Spring and was later backed up by a star of the series (Jaleel White), and as I shared in my article from three months ago, a source told me at the time that it could be delayed by up to a year – meaning November 2024. This information was told to me in August when things were being described to me as “influx” and “fluid”, and now that both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have been resolved, the dust will settle and we’ll likely gain more clarity in the coming months as to when Skeleton Crew could be released. Last week MakingStarWars corroborated my report with their own, sharing that they’d heard Skeleton Crew would release during the 2024 festive Holiday season.
As mentioned earlier in the article, Lucasfilm did premiere the trailer for Skeleton Crew at Star Wars Celebration, something I’ve shared a description of previously. The Skeleton Crew trailer has found its way online several times, but as of the time of writing, Lucasfilm are yet to officially release the trailer to the public. However you can read a description of what was shown below.
The trailer begins with a group of school kids in class being taught by a droid. We see the character played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who looks to be the lead of the group of kids, seemingly bored with life, looking longingly in his class room and seeking adventure. As the trailer progresses we hear voiceovers from the various kids discussing going on an adventure, as we see shots of some of the kids riding Speeder Bikes through a forest. An Ortolan child (Neel) is seen opening up a garage door at dusk, along with quick glimpses of the characters played by Ryan Keira Armstrong and Kyriana Kratter, the latter of which is sporting a visor of some kind. They take their bikes at the dead of night and venture out into the unknown full of glee.
The next morning, the father of at least one of the children, played by Tunde Abebimpe, calls out for the kids and realises the children have gone missing as we see the group of children discover a ship and take it off world. The Lucasfilm logo appears as we hear the children call out for their father. The trailer intercuts with shots of the parents played by the aforementioned Abebimpe and Kerry Condon, trying to find their children in various ways, as Condon’s character stresses that something is very wrong. We see glimpses of the kids flying in their commandeered space ship through the galaxy and the group running through a market of some kind.
We see shots of the pirate Vane, from The Mandalorian, picking up a blaster at a bar and enter a ship, perhaps the ones the kids are one, along with other pirates. We get a hologram of Kerry Condon’s character asking the kids to return home as they watch on. As the trailer races towards its end, we see the pirates opening fire, the children playing with a friendly droid, a skeleton on a ship, along with worried shots of the children’s parents.
The final shots of the trailer shows the kids seemingly in a jail cell of some sort, where they meet Jude Law, who is donned in Jedi robes, and uses the force to lift a key and unlock them from their cell. The Skeleton Crew title card appears and is quickly followed by flashes of Jude Law piloting the children’s ship, x-wings, pirates firing blasters on a ship and Jude Law in new clothes including a deep v-neck baby blue shirt and a leather jacket as he walks away from the children’s ship.
Skeleton Crew was created by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Christopher Ford (Chaos Walking) and was inspired by eighties Amblin movies such as The Goonies. The series stars Jude Law, Ravi Cabot-Conyers (#BlackAF), Kyriana Kratter (Bunk’d), Ryan Keira Armstrong (Firestarter), Robert Timothy Smith (Mythic Quest), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Tunde Adebimpe (Marriage Story).
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