Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has enlisted a sitcom icon of the ’90s to play a space pirate. The newest Star Wars series to premiere on Disney+ is taking a slightly different route with its theme. Headlined by Jude Law, Skeleton Crew features a cast of four kids who get lost on an outer space adventure. When you’re lost in a galaxy far, far away, it’s easy to run across some less-than-stellar individuals. The Star Wars franchise has been filled with pirates throughout the years, and one of their new additions is Jaleel White, star of the ABC sitcom Family Matters.
Entertainment Weekly has the first look at a group of space pirates in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Jaleel White, who played Urkel in Family Matters, is among the space pirates. His character’s name is Gunter, who has a cyborg-look about himself. White’s Gunter has a sensor over his right eye and a panel strapped to his chest. Standing next to Gunter is Vane, played by Marti Matulis. Vane is a character Star Wars fans will remember from The Mandalorian, after he gave Din Djarin and Greek Karga a tough time. The other pirates in the Skeleton Crew photo are Brutus (Frank Tatasciore, performance artist: Stephan Oyoung), Pax (performance artist: Mike Estes), and Chaelt (Dale Soules).
(Photo:
Vane (Marti Matulis), Gunter (Jaleel White), Brutus (Frank Tatasciore, performance artist: Stephan Oyoung), Pax (performance artist: Mike Estes), and Chaelt (Dale Soules) in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
– Lucasfilm)
Skeleton Crew creators discuss how space pirates factor into Star Wars show
Creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford talked about how they incorporated space pirates into Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. “With the era we’re in, we’re kind of getting to play with that lawless thing,” Ford told EW. “The Empire is gone, and so we’re playing with a part of the galaxy that has a resurgence of piracy.”
“Pirates are talked about so much in Star Wars,” Ford added. “People would call Han Solo a pirate and he’d be like, ‘How dare you?’ And we’ve seen some awesome pirates in the animated shows. So this was something where both [executive producers] Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau were really excited to do more pirate stuff.”
Jon Watts noted how he is excited to play in the Star Wars sandbox, along with his love of a certain Lucasfilm video game from the ’90s. “I’m also a big fan of Monkey Island,” Watts said. “That’s also classic Lucas. So somewhere between Star Wars pirates and Monkey Island pirates. I think we found our sweet spot.”
What is Star Wars: Skeleton Crew about?
When four kids make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, they get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home, meeting unlikely allies and enemies will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Jude Law (Captain Marvel, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) plays the human Jedi Jod Na Nawood, the adult leader of a motley crew of galaxy-faring kids that includes Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), KB (Kyriana Kratter), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), and Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong).
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew debuts Tuesday, December 3rd on Disney+.
