If Jude Law Is Who I Think He Is in ‘Skeleton Crew,’ Hard Pass

By Mike Redmond | TV | August 13, 2024 |

By Mike Redmond | TV | August 13, 2024 |

With The Acolyte concluded in all of its Manny Jacinto glory that deserves a Season 2 renewal right freaking now, Star Wars is already barreling full speed ahead into its next Disney+ series: Skeleton Crew.

The show received the red carpet treatment at D23 over the weekend, complete with a Jude Law appearance. The actor has been attached to the series from the jump, and Lucasfilm has been extremely secretive about it until now. Thanks to the first trailer drop, we got a closer look at the plot and some, uh, interesting creative choices.

Created by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts, who’s more than earned a chance to play with Disney’s best toys, Skeleton Crew has been touted as a return to old school Star Wars and Amblin films, and boy, did it lean into that last part. The series will center on a group of four kids who literally live in a space suburb. I’m talking they have streets, garages, and bicycles in the form of makeshift speeder bikes. It pushes the concept a little too far and feels like someone went, “OK, let’s do Stranger Things, but in space.”

Anyway, the kids stumble across what they think is an abandoned temple in the woods, only it turns out to be a whole entire spaceship. Space hijinks ensue, and the big trailer reveal is they run into a mysterious Jedi played by, you guessed it, Jude Law.

According to a rollout interview with PEOPLE, Law is taking on a character named Jod Na Nawood, who will act as a quick-witted mentor to the kids as they have a Goonies-like adventure in space because, again, ’80s family fun is the name of the game here. However, unlike The Acolyte, Skeleton Crew is shackled to The Mandalorian and its various spinoffs that will lead into a massive tie-up film directed by Dave Filoni. That’s the part where I get very concerned.

WARNING: Potential spoilers below unless I’m completely wrong, which could very easily be the case.

Ahsoka practically flashed letters on the screen that Filoni is building up to a loose adaptation of the beloved Timothy Zahn book trilogy that kicked off with Heir to the Empire. That story featured Grand Admiral Thrawn commandeering the remains of the Empire while Luke dealt with some wacky clone shit connected to the resurrection of the Emperor in the Dark Horse Comics series Dark Empire where Palpatine returned as the younger looking dude below:

As we all unfortunately know, somehow, Palpatine returned in The Rise of Skywalker, and I think you can see where this is going. Star Wars freaking loves explaining the origins of every little thing, and what bigger twist than the unexpected mentor to four space kids is actually a clone of the Emperor.

Again, this is entirely a guess based on me remembering an old comic book. I really hope it’s not true considering The Acolyte had a 100-year buffer, and yet, it still couldn’t escape bumping into Palpatine. But if I’m right, it turns out Star Wars listened to the fans saying it’s time to move past the Skywalkers — but only by turning the knob just a single click to the right and landing on the Emperor. C’mon.

You can watch the official trailer below: