Star Wars: Skeleton Crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious
discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous
galaxy. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater
adventure than they ever imagined.

A new Star Wars series, Skeleton Crew, begins on Disney+ tonight with a two-episode premiere. At its core, Skeleton Crew is one part homage to classic pirate adventures like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe and one part homage to the joyful excitement of the early 1980s era of Star Wars. Showrunners Jon Watts and Chris Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming) clearly have a child-like sense of wonder about the galaxy far, far away in a way that feels familiar to fellow fans of their generation who also played Star Wars and made up their own stories during those years. Headliner Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes, Captain Marvel) also revels in playing in a sandbox that captivated his imagination as a youth. Much like The Mandalorian felt different yet familiar from its movie counterparts in its premiere, by end of the second episode Skeleton Crew will have you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for more of this grand adventure with Wyn, Fern, Neel, and KB.

While Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood is the adult movie-star face in the series, it’s the child stars and their chemistry that is reminiscent of Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca. Wim and Neel play “being Jedi,” and Fern harnesses her scoundrel, piloting KB on her childhood swoop bike. Their limited storybook’s worth of knowledge about Jedi and their legacy makes the Star Wars universe accessible because the kids know as much about Star Wars as folks did in the early 1980s.

Fern actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong noted in an interview with Fangirls Going Rogue that her costume reminded her of Han. Fern’s personality has a dash of Han and equal measure of Leia – so who she really reminds me of, with her tech-savvy ways, is Jaina Solo, Han and Leia’s daughter in the Star Wars Legends novels. For Expanded Universe aficionados this show delivers in spades, while always trying to remain accessible to new fans. Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) reads his Jedi picture books and dreams of something other than the mundane life of standardized testing at school that predetermines one’s lot in life. Neel, the blue-skinned elephant-looking alien, played by Robert Timothy Smith, is Wim’s faithful friend, who steals every scene he’s in. KB (Kyriana Kratter) has augments similar to Lobot in The Empire Strikes Back, but by the end of the third episode, she emerges as the true heart of the quartet.

The first episode sets the stage of how four school kids find a starship and get lost in space. Some initial worldbuilding here definitely will come up later, and in that way the show feels like Agatha All Along. The more you notice, the more you awaken to the storytelling. (Hint: Pay attention to things like the robots and murals in the background.) Wim’s home life screams Gen X: Dad has to work late, leaves cash for meals, and expect his son to get himself to school. It’s this Gen X vibe that reinforces the Amblin-era story premise like The Goonies or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

The second episode leans heavily on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Some scenes are so on the nose, they are almost too on the nose. More subtle nods are made to Treasure Island, from the peg-legged protection robot named SM-33 to Jod Na Nawood’s alter ego Captain Silvo, a twist on the name Long John Silver. Law has to be many things, depending on the situation, and shines as he flips between prisoner, ship’s captain, pirate, scoundrel, and someone the children assume to be an honorable Jedi. Maybe we shouldn’t care for him, but we do. That might be part the actor’s charm and part that the character is crafted like a puzzle box we’d very much like to figure out.

If the first episode is setting the stage for the adventure and the second episode steps into the world of pirates in a kind of setting only Lucasfilm could do, the third episode grounds the story back into the galaxy far, far away in scene full of delight and whimsy. I hesitate to say more, other than I can’t wait for everyone else to see Episode Three, which will be next week!

In addition to Jon Watts (Director, Writer, Showrunner) and Chris Ford (Writer, Showrunner), Skeleton Crew harnesses some of the industry’s top directors: David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon, The Green Knight), the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Jake Schreier (Beef, Thunderbolts*), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Mandalorian) and Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters). The idea for the show was pitched to Jon Favreau (The Mandalorian, Iron Man, Lion King, Elf) while Watts and Ford worked with him on Spider-Man: Homecoming. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni executive produce the series along with Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson.

If you’re up for a Star Wars adventure with some mystery and old-fashioned nostalgia, Skeleton Crew is a must-see.

To listen to the Fangirls Going Rogue interviews with the showrunners click here and the cast click here.