Seeking advice on casting his squad of young actors for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, creator Jon Watts looked to the longtime film and television director who had brought together The Goonies: the late Richard Donner.
It was just a few weeks before Donner passed in 2021. “And he said the smartest thing, which was when you're looking at a 10-year-old kid, you're not [just] casting an actor to play a role,” Watts recalls. “You're looking for someone that embodies the spirit of the character. So that's what was always in the back of my mind.”
The story of Skeleton Crew, set in the era of the New Republic, carries forward much of the same heart and sense of adventure inherent in The Goonies and other stories of the era, including the classic LucasArts game Monkey Island, Amblin Entertainment’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones franchise. “It’s the story of kids who happen to live on what they think of as a boring planet,” says series co-creator Chris Ford. But as they go on this adventure, finding their way back quickly becomes complicated. “Unfortunately, along the way they attract the attention of a bunch of pirates and other space criminals.”
“I loved Monkey Island as a kid and I still do, and so getting to do space pirates was something that allowed me to check back in,” says Watts, including carrying Marti Matulis’ Vane over from The Mandalorian Season 3 and introducing a bevy of new brigands including Brutus, voiced by Fred Tatasciore, and Gunter, played by Jaleel White. “And Amblin always stands out to me because there was a feeling that they took the kids seriously. They didn't feel like kids’ movies when you watched them as a kid, and even now looking back, they feel like grown up films that just happened to star kids.”
The series creators had the idea for Skeleton Crew before the release of their critically acclaimed film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), featuring another young protagonist who is suddenly thrust into excitement and adventure. “I think many of us craved that same feeling of escape and empowerment when we were younger,” Ford adds. “We’ve all pondered our place in the universe, and this story explores the galaxy through a unique perspective, which is the curious mind of the child in all of us. In this case, an imaginative day dreamer, a risk taker, a loyal best friend and a tech wiz. These kids are in danger. They’re in over their heads.”
Recently, Watts and Ford sat down with StarWars.com ahead of the new trailer for the series to talk about finding Fern, Wim, KB, and Neel, what makes Jude Law the perfect Jod Na Nawood, and why everyone has their own Nick Frost impression thanks to the new peg-legged droid SM-33.
Cast the crew
The series centers around two pairs of best friends — Wim and Neel and Fern and KB. Yes, there is also a Teek and many other nods to various Star Wars storytelling throughout the years, Watts and Ford confirm. And, no, Neel isn’t the same species as Max Rebo. We asked.
For Wim, played by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, it was essential to find a star who could bring the same wide-eyed wonder to the role that his character experiences during his first steps into the larger galaxy. “Wim is like a total starry-eyed dreamer who just rushes into any situation before he's thought about it for one second, and that's what Ravi is like,” Watts says with a laugh. “He gets so excited and that's Wim. So, he was perfect.”
To find Fern, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Watts and Ford were looking for an actor who could embody a certain duality not unlike Leia Organa. “Ryan is Fern,” Watts says. “We wanted a kid that was really smart and could play the good, sweet daughter of someone in the government, but also be a tough rebel trying to stand up to bullies. Ryan has that intelligence and duality. She’s a great actor and very thoughtful about her choices.”
Like all the characters, Fern’s best friend, KB, played by Kyriana Kratter, was a little different in early drafts. But once the showrunners saw Kratter’s portrayal, it cemented elements of KB’s intellect. “I remember when we saw Kyriana's audition for KB and she was just kind of strangely quiet and thoughtful,” Ford says. “It was a very specific choice.”
And Robert Timothy Smith, Wim’s overall-wearing best friend named Neel, brought some of the character’s overt humor through his performance. “Robert was the total wild card,” Watts adds. “We initially thought of Neel as this sweet, shy little blue elephant-like alien. But Robert always came at it at this other oblique angle. He's a comedian. He's always telling jokes and doing bits, and it's always really sweet. He's just trying to get a rise out of you or a laugh. And that allowed us to try some different, funnier performance options to let Neel be a little bit more neurotic and unique.”
Since the role is a combination of facial motion capture, a suit performer, and an animatronic puppeteered head, Smith’s ad-libbing would add layers of choreography for the entire crew bringing Neel to life. “Robert had all these gestures and physicality that you would never expect,” Watts says.
Enter Jod
The series lead, a mysterious character named Jod Na Nawood, ultimately went to Academy Award-nominee Jude Law. “Before we met him, we wanted to cast him,” Ford admits. “We wanted that sense of roguishness and that feeling that he's a leading man that happens to get stuck with these kids.”
Luckily, Law was all in. “I remember the first time we got on the phone with him and he was so excited to delve into the character and make him so nuanced and real,” Ford adds. “He had so many ideas and that's when we learned that he's a giant Star Wars fan, which is a gift.”
Law was game for new acting challenges, with an array of puppet creatures, aliens, and droids as scene partners. “Jude going toe-to-toe with a tiny little hand puppet really brings out a different kind of performance,” Watts says.
Rounding out the main cast is Nick Frost, voicing the new droid SM-33, alongside co-stars Kerry Condon and Tunde Adebimpe, playing Fern’s mom, Fara, and Wim’s dad, Wendle.
“We prerecorded a lot of Nick’s dialogue so that on set the droid would be speaking with his voice,” Watts says. “That was really helpful for the other actors because Nick has such great and specific comedic timing that it helped everyone understand the tone and the vibe of SM-33.” In the style of other droids who have come before, SM-33 has a personality all his own, injecting humor and levity into the perilous adventure ahead. But on set, when new lines were added, each director would take a turn doing their own best SM-33 impression, the filmmakers add with a laugh.
A new entry into the galaxy
As for the series tone, in addition to the Amblin films of their own formative years, Watts and Ford have imbued their story with the thrills of Predator, and the serious beats of Empire of the Sun and Flight of the Navigator. From the start, the filmmakers were encouraged to find their own unique perspective and story, then use the Star Wars galaxy as the lens to view it through, they say. “It was an instinct we had from the beginning,” Ford says. “And then later talking to [executive producers] Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni about the way to approach trying to write in Star Wars, [they advised we] tap into something that you love. You can't just do Star Wars, because then you're kind of aping it. You're trying to do what George Lucas did and he was trying to make Flash Gordon or a Kurosawa movie.”
“It was fascinating talking to Dave about his conversations with George and his original Star Wars influences,” adds Watts. “That really helped open our minds about the right way to approach the universe and figure out if something feels correct or not.”
To prepare, the creators revisited their favorite adventure stories as well as Lucas’ own influences. “We went back and watched a bunch of pirate serials and classic pirate films from the twenties and thirties,” Watts says, an element in juxtaposition to the serene suburbia seen in the first trailer. “It was important to create that tension, showing that the galaxy is scary and dangerous and that the galaxy is also peaceful and boring,” he adds.
And although Skeleton Crew is filled with homages to other kid-centric adventures and nods to deep corners of Star Wars storytelling and beyond, set during the era of the New Republic where we also find The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy the ride. “What's great is you don't have to know anything,” Watts says.
“Yeah, I want people to be excited and to have fun. That was Jon’s approach with Spider-Man. It’s fun to swing on webs, there’s lots of drama and pathos, too, but like let's have fun with it,” agrees Ford before joking: “You don’t need to know anything about Star Wars — except a deep, deep knowledge of whether Ortolans have arms or not.” The Max Rebo debate continues, but one thing’s for sure: Neel is a species all his own and we can’t wait to meet him and the rest of the crew.
All episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are now streaming, only on Disney+.
