By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew – Episode 5
As the mysteries of At Attin and Jod Na Nawood unfold, the newest Star Wars series continues to have all sorts of fun easter eggs, hidden details, and references we’ve come to love from stories in a galaxy far, far away.
Here are all the easter eggs, hidden details, references, and parallels we noticed in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew – Episode 5 – “You Have A Lot to Learn About Pirates”
Episode 5 is directed by Jake Schreier, who is also the director of the upcoming MCU movie Thunderbolts*. Schreier was also executive producer and director of the acclaimed Netflix series Beef and has directed music videos for Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Benny Blanco, Calvin Harris, Miguel, Halsey, Selena Gomez, Chance the Rapper, and more.
Some of Wim’s father Wendle’s coworkers at the office on At Attin include an Ithorian (commonly known as Hammerheads) and a Rodian (the same species as Greedo).
Fern’s mother Fara (played by Kerry Condon) shares the same first name as a character from Alexander Freed’s novel Shadow Fall. Fara Yadeez in that novel was a bureaucrat and eventual governor from the planet Troithe. Like Fara from Skeleton Crew, Fara Yadeez also has the title of undersecretary. While it seems unlikely that Fara from Skeleton Crew and Fara from Shadow Fall are the same character, you never know what could be in store.
SM-33 reveals that his former captain was named Tak Rennod. The word ‘Rennod’ spelt backwards is ‘Donner,’ which is the name of The Goonies director Richard Donner. The work of Donner, who also directed Superman (1978) and The Omen, on The Goonies served as a major influence for the creators of Skeleton Crew in crafting their new Star Wars series.
Tak Rennod’s lair is called Skull Ridge Mountain. This is similar to Skull Rock, which is a key location in Peter Pan.
As Jod comforts Wim, he discusses the Jedi philosophy of not forming attachments. This is a major theme in the prequel trilogy, and serves as one of the primary reasons Anakin Skywalker turns to the darkside. Jod’s advice for Wim to “forget” his family and anxieties seems to suggest that Jod is indeed a Jedi, something we’ve gone back and forth on throughout the show so far.
Jod says to Wim, “Your focus determines your reality.” This is something Qui-Gon says to Anakin in The Phantom Menace.
When the team arrives to Lanupa, they observe pleasure yachts. Pleasure yachts like this have featured in various Star Wars stories, including Dryden Vos’ yacht in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
SM-33 mentions that Lanupa is also known as Battle World. While this isn’t a reference to anything in Star Wars, Battleworld is a key location in the Marvel comic series Secret Wars.
Jod mentions that the ‘Wise Elders’ do not speak Basic. Basic (which is English) is the standard language in the Star Wars galaxy.
Neel’s disguise as a Wise Elder makes him look somewhat like a Jawa.
Wim’s disguise, meanwhile, makes him look somewhat similar to Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Jod and the kids are adorned with what looks like a Star Wars equivalent of leis. A lei is a traditional necklace, which is often given to tourists at vacation resorts throughout the Pacific.
A restraining bolt is placed on SM-33. Restraining bolts have previously been placed on droids like C-3PO and R2-D2 in various stories, including A New Hope, The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The hotelier in the episode is played by Julie Ann Emery. She is best known for her role as Betsy Kettleman in Better Call Saul, and has also appeared in Preacher, Hitch, Gifted, and Fargo.
Some of the people enjoying the rejuvenating mud baths at the resort are Muun. Muun are a distinct looking species, who first appeared in Attack of the Clones as members of the Banking Clan. The most notable Muun is Darth Plagueis, who made his canon debut recently in the final episode of The Acolyte.
Speaking of the Banking Clan, the hotelier mentions that the resort has heightened security due to an economic summit of the Banking Clan. The InterGalactic Banking Clan was a financial commerce guild that aligned with the Separatists during the Clone Wars.
Jod is recognized by a former acquaintance Pokkit. Playing Pokkit is Kelly Macdonald, who is known for her roles in No Country for Old Men, Boardwalk Empire, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II. More notably though is the fact that Macdonald becomes the latest actor to play a Disney Princess and a Star Wars character (just like Ming-Na Wen, who plays Fennec Shand in Star Wars and voiced Mulan in the Disney animated classic. That’s because Macdonald previously voiced Merida in the Pixar film Brave.
Pokkit visually looks like Kreia (aka Darth Traya) from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. It’s also possible that Pokkit is of the Kage species, like Barash Silvain in the High Republic.
The bounty hunter Pokkit refers to Jod as Dash Zentin. Dash was also the first name of the mercenary and smuggler Dash Rendar, who made his debut in the Legends multimedia project Shadows of the Empire.
Pokkit mentions that she is now a bounty hunter for a private client as opposed to taking “low-rent Guild jobs.” Pokkit is referencing the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, which first appeared in The Mandalorian Season 1 and included members like Din Djarin, Greef Karga, and Fennec Shand.
Pokkit also mentions that she hasn’t “even checked the pucks.” She is referring to Bounty Pucks, which also first appeared in The Mandalorian. Bounty pucks are small holographic devices used by the Bounty Hunters’ Guild to identify targets.
Pokkit mentions that she is going to soak in a bacta tank. This is the same substance that was used to heal Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, and has since featured in countless Star Wars stories.
Pokkit refers to Jod as a “sleemo.” This is a Huttese insult first used by Sebulba in The Phantom Menace. It was the last word spoken by bounty Zam Wesell in Attack of the Clones.
A Hutt is one of the guests at the resort. This is the second reference to the Hutts we’ve picked up on in Skeleton Crew so far (the first of which being a pirate getting the Hutt sigil tattooed on his body in Episode 2). If you look closely, you can see a chin tattoo on the Skeleton Crew Hutt that is also the same chin tattoo one of the Hutt twins in The Book of Boba Fett has, which could suggest these are the same character. Regardless, with the Hutt twins in The Book of Boba Fett and now this Hutt in Skeleton Crew, it is clear that the Hutts are still around (and seemingly thriving) after the death of Jabba.
The Hutt eats a member of the Troglof species, which first appeared on Canto Bight in The Last Jedi.
Jod inspects various symbols engraved in a wall of the resort. One of these symbols appears to be in ur-Kittât, the ancient language of the Sith.
One of the resort works refers to Jod as Professor Gorelox of Scipio. Scipio is an ice-covered planet that is home to the InterGalactic Banking Clan. Scipio was first mentioned in The Clone Wars episode “Senate Spy” and appears for the first time in the episode “An Old Friend,” which is part of the Rush Clovis arc.
The massive creature Chtallops has a similar name and look as the cosmic entity Cthulu created by H.P. Lovecraft.
Rennod’s lair and tunnels filled with booby traps are below the spas of the resort, just like how One-Eyed Willie’s lair and booby trap-filled tunnels are below the Astoria Country Club in The Goonies.
The initial booby trap in Rennod’s maze of tunnels is much like similar booby traps in the Indiana Jones franchise.
Jod tells the kids, “Don’t touch anything” after narrowly avoiding a booby trap. This is exactly what Indiana Jones says to Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as Short Round tried to avoid activating a booby trap.
And, in Indiana Jones fashion, Jod and the kids need to complete a puzzle of sorts before entering the lair. We loved this moment of the episode as it highlighted their ability to work together as a team and reminded us of the sort of puzzles Indiana Jones tackles in his films and Nathan Drake solves in the Uncharted games. Proceeding forward requires brains, rather than brawn.
One of the golden statues in Rennod’s lair looks just like Hooter from the short film Captain EO. This would be the second reference to the short film starring Michael Jackson and co-written by George Lucas after Fuzzball appeared in Episode 2 of Skeleton Crew.
The lightsaber hilt in Rennod’s lair looks like it’s from the High Republic era. Specifically, examining Insight Editions’ The High Republic: The Lightsaber Collection shows that the lightsaber hilt in Skeleton Crew bares a number of similarities to lightsabers from this era.
Captain Rennod refers to At Attin as an Old Republic Mint. As far as we know, this is the first time a Mint (the institution that produces money, not the herb) is referenced in Star Wars.
Jod challenges Fern to the captaincy of the Oynx Cinder, citing the pirate code as he does so. The pirate code was an actual code of conduct for governing ships of pirates between the 17th and 18th centuries. The pirate code plays a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Wim tries to save the day by igniting the lightsaber. In a fun subversion of typical hero moments like this, Wim accidentally ignties the lightsaber backward and then drops it on the ground. This feels a lot more realistic as a child wielding a lightsaber for the first time would probably make a mistake like this.
The episode is written by Myung Joh Wesner, who was previously the executive story editor of the underappreciated Hulu murder mystery Death and Other Details. Wesner also wrote an episode of the comedy series High Potential.