By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew – Episodes 1-2
The new Star Wars series Skeleton Crew kicked off in glowing fashion with a duo of hilarious and wholesome premiere episodes. Of course, it wouldn’t be Star Wars without all sorts of easter eggs and hidden details, and Skeleton Crew is now exception in this regard. Keep reading for a full breakdown of all the easter eggs, hidden details, and references we noticed in Skeleton Crew episodes 1-2.
Episode 1: This Could Be A Real Adventure
There are a variety of known Star Wars species on display during the beginning action sequence. Notably, the pirate Brutus is Shistavanen, the wolf-like species first depicted in the Mos Eisley Cantina scene of A New Hope and also in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series.
The opening sequence is reminiscent (in more ways than one) of the beginning of A New Hope in which Darth Vader and a group of stormtroopers raid Princess Leia’s ship. In addition to both involving raiding enemy forces taking over a ship, there is a parallel to a line from the original Star Wars too. In Skeleton Crew, one of the crew members pleads to the pirates that they have no credits, to which Captain Silvo grabs him by the throat and responds, “If this is a bulk freighter, why is your vault magnetically sealed?” This is similar to a line in A New Hope when a rebel urges that their ship is a consular ship, to which Vader, while grabbing the Rebel’s throat, replies, “If this is a consular ship, where is the ambassador?”
The pirate captain is introduced as Captain Silvo and is played by Jude Law. The name of Law’s character was previously revealed to be Jod Na Nawood though. It is unclear which of these names is his real name, if any.
The subtitles on display as Wim plays with action figures confirms that he is doing a “Jedi voice” and a “Sith voice” when playing as the different light sided and dark side characters.
For breakfast, Wim has blue milk with his cereal. Blue milk, of course, was also what Luke Skywalker notoriously drank in A New Hope. It has also been seen in numerous Star Wars projects since, including Andor, and can be purchased as a tasty treat at Galaxy’s Edge.
The shot of Wim’s street is reminiscent of American suburbia depicted in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and other movies.
Contrary to rumors, Neel is not an Ortolan (the same species as Max Rebo).
Neel and Wim have a pretend lightsaber duel when they meet before school. In our exclusive roundtable interview with series creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, it was confirmed that Neel and Wim purposefully don’t use the correct sounds when pretending to wield lightsabers as people on their planet haven’t had direct exposure to Jedi. Yes, they know of Jedi legends and admire Jedi, but it’s not like they’ve ever actually seen a Star Wars movie and know what a lightsaber actually sounds like.
The droid on Wim and Neel’s school bus is an RX-series. This is the same kind of droid that once piloted the ride Star Tours at Disney Parks.
On the bus, Wim reads about Jedi on his datapad. The first look at the datapad appears to show a history book rendition of Luke in the Wampa’s cave on Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back. The second image on the datapad appears to show a Jedi and a Sith dueling. The Sith looks somewhat like Count Dooku, but it is difficult to tell. These details are neat in that they convey how regular, everyday people perceive Jedi like Luke Skywalker as celebrities.
The Career Assessment that Wim and Neel take is said to help their planet determine how everyone can best serve their world’s Great Work of the Republic. This phrasing is similar to a concept from the High Republic comics and books. Chancellor Lina Soh created the Great Works of the High Republic, a group of projects designed to promote the Galactic Republic and their achievements. Starlight Beacon is the most notable example of one of Chancellor Soh’s Great Works.
Fara in Skeleton Crew is played by Kerry Condon, who is known for her roles in The Banshees of Inisherin, Better Call Saul, and as the voice of FRIDAY in the MCU.
One of the kids who wants to race KB and Fern is named Bonjj Phalfa. This is a reference to Harrison Ford’s character Bob Falfa from George Lucas’ American Graffiti.
Wim and Neel need a power converter for their hoverbike. Luke Skywalker wanted to go to Toshi Station to obtain power converters in A New Hope.
Wim tells Fern that her hoverbike is “pretty wizard.” This is a slang term meaning ‘cool,’ which was first used by Anakin Skywalker and his friends in The Phantom Menace and was more recently used by Din Djarin in The Book of Boba Fett.
In the episode’s coolest easter egg / hidden detail, Neel’s siblings can be seen watching a scene from The Star Wars Holiday Special involving a circus-type performance on their hologram which the Wookiee Lumpy wanted in the special. In our exclusive roundtable interview with Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, the series creators discussed just how much work went into this seemingly minor reference.
Episode 2: Way, Way Out Past the Barrier
Episode 2 is directed by David Lowery, who previously directed The Green Knight and the Disney+ film Peter Pan and Wendy, the latter of which (like Skeleton Crew) was a pirate story starring Jude Law.
The droid SM-33 is voiced by Nick Frost, known for his roles in Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. SM-33 is akin to the name Smee, which is the name of Captain Hook’s first mate in Peter Pan.
SM-33 rattles off some names of planets as he tries to identify the lost children’s homeworld. One of these planets is Aldhani, which is the planet that Cassian Andor and others stage a daring heist on in Andor Season 1. Another planet mentioned by SM-33 is Atolon, which is where Chopper Base is located in Star Wars Rebels.
The kids leave their ship and are taken to a port by a Teek ferryman. The Teek are a species native to Endor, who first appeared in the live-action Ewok movies.
The kids find themselves on Port Borgo, a pirate port on an asteroid in the Outer Rim. In canon, Port Borgo was first mentioned in the 2018 reference book Star Wars: Smuggler’s Guide, although its history in Legends dates back over 30 years prior. In Legends, Borgo Prime was a colony established by the Rakata, an ancient alien empire, who ruled the galaxy before the founding of the Jedi Order. Centuries later, the location became inhabited by the Imperial Remnant and subsequently became a financial hub for the Remnant, as detailed in Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s Young Jedi Knights novels.
One of the cages on Port Borgo features what appears to be Fuzzball from the 1986 short film Captain EO. This short film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, co-written by George Lucas, and starred Michael Jackson. It originally aired at Disney Parks in the 1980s. In the short film, Jackson plays a captain of various aliens, one of whom is Fuzzball. Now, Fuzzball has taken the leap from one Lucasfilm project to another by appearing in the Star Wars galaxy.
One of the pirates in Episode 2 is Vane, who first appeared in The Mandalorian Season 3.
Another pirate in Port Borgo is getting a tattoo of the Hutt Clan sigil. This likely confirms that the Hutt Cartel is still active in the New Republic era.
Another pirate, meanwhile, is named Gunter, who is played by Jaleel White. White is best known for playing Steve Urkel in the sitcom Family Matters.
When the kids get locked up in a cell, they try to send a rat to retrieve the keys to the cell for them. This is a reference to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in which imprisoned pirates try to coax a dog into giving them the keys to their cell.
The iconic Binary Sunset/Force theme hums in the background as Jude Law’s mysterious hooded figure seemingly uses the Force to float the keys to the prison cell over to him. It has been teased that Law will play a Jedi in the show, although we think there is certainly more to be uncovered about his character.