Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Feels Like a Breath of Fresh Air – Here’s Why

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 1.

Ever since Star Wars TV shows came into existence, they’ve always been about Jedi and Sith, the Rebels against the Empire, and bounty hunters. However, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew takes a different direction that feels like a breath of fresh air. Here’s why.

Why Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Feels Like a Breath of Fresh Air

When I first heard about Skeleton Crew, I was curious but not at all hyped. However, once the trailers and promo for Skeleton Crew started, things began to change. And thankfully, the show has met expectations. So far, Skeleton Crew has been great. The show takes a different approach to Star Wars, letting pirates take center stage.

Before Skeleton Crew, pirates were either in the background, the antagonist for an episode, or a side character. When you think of pirates, you don’t think of Star Wars. So, pirates having a big role in the latest Star Wars show brings a new perspective to the franchise and could bring in a new audience.

Another refreshing note is that we now have children as protagonists, which hasn’t really happened before in Star Wars. Having young characters brings a sense of innocence and gives Skeleton Crew a lighter tone compared to other recent Star Wars shows. As much as I liked The Acolyte, I felt it was a tad too dark. The last few Star Wars shows have also had more mature themes, especially with Andor being set in the times of the Empire and The Bad Batch having a very bleak ending to Season 2 and an even darker Season 3.

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So, it’s great to see that Skeleton Crew has a much lighter tone, especially since we get to see the Star Wars galaxy through the eyes of children who have never been to space before. It brings a sense of mystery to the show. From Wim’s fascination with the Jedi and adventure and Neel’s adorable innocence and desire to go home to Fern’s rebellious nature and natural leadership skills and KB’s quiet but inquisitive nature, it all works. In fact, all these children have personalities that complement each other perfectly.

These children seeing the galaxy for the first time also brings some bittersweet notes, as Skeleton Crew is set during the time of the New Republic. With these children being from At Attin, a planet stuck in the Old Republic era, they aren’t aware of what has happened in the galaxy, which is very sad when you think about it. In Episode 3 “Very Interesting, As an Astrogration Problem,” KB says that at school, they learned about Alderaan and Coruscant. It’s devastating because these children don’t know much about the galaxy and what they do is out-of-date. But what’s even more heartbreaking is that Wim doesn’t know about Order 66 and that almost all of the Jedi are gone.

All these heartbreaking moments bring me to the next point: the nods to the wider Star Wars franchise. With The Acolyte set in the High Republic era, the show couldn’t bring many Easter eggs or shout-outs. Only those that revolved around the High Republic or Old Republic corners of Star Wars. So, seeing all these nods and Easter eggs in Skeleton Crew brings a sense of excitement that’s been missing. Here are some of the highlights:

• Wim talking about Jedi temples that can bury themselves into the ground is a subtle nod to the Jedi temple on Lothal from Rebels.
• SM-33 mentioning the planets Atollon and Aldhani is a reference to the shows Rebels and Andor.
• Jod encounters a B1-Battle Droid from the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars.

So far, I’ve absolutely been enjoying Skeleton Crew. It’s been refreshing to see the positive response to the show online as well. It seems Disney’s choice to focus on pirates and adventure has paid off and given the Star Wars franchise the kick in the pants it desperately needed.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Tuesdays.