''Star Wars: Skeleton Crew'' is an upcoming American television series created by

Jon Watts Jonathan Watts (born June 28, 1981) is an American filmmaker. His credits include directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films '' Spider-Man: Homecoming'', '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'', and '' Spider-Man: No Way Home''. He was ...

and Christopher Ford for the streaming service

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

. It is part of the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' franchise, taking place in the same time frame as ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of ''Retur ...

'' and its interconnected spin-offs after the events of ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

'' (1983). ''Skeleton Crew'' tells a

coming-of-age story In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal ...

. Watts approached

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

about telling an

Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshal ...

-style coming-of-age story set in the ''Star Wars'' universe, and he was developing the series with Ford by early 2022. It was officially announced that May at ''Star Wars'' Celebration, with

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

revealed to be starring. Filming had begun by September 2022 in Los Angeles, and wrapped by late January 2023. The child actors in the series were revealed in April 2023. ''Skeleton Crew'' is scheduled to be released on Disney+ in 2023.

Premise

The series follows four kids who end up on an adventure to make their way home after being lost in the galaxy following a discovery they make on their home planet.

Cast

as a

Jedi Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are the main heroic protagonists of many works of the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Old Galactic Republic, and later supporting the Rebel Alliance, the Jedi O ...

* Ravi Cabot-Conyers * Kyriana Kratter * Robert Timothy Smith *

Ryan Kiera Armstrong Ryan Kiera Armstrong (born March 12, 2010) is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Charlie McGee in the 2022 film '' Firestarter''. She also portrayed Brooke in ''The Old Way'' (2023). On television she portrayed Alma Gardn ...

Tunde Adebimpe Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe (born February 26, 1975) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, actor, director, and visual artist best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. Early life Adebimpe was born into a Nige ...

Kerry Condon Kerry Condon (born 9 January 1983) is an Irish actress. She was the youngest actress to play Ophelia in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''Hamlet'' (2001–2002). She has since played Octavia of the Julii in ''Rome'' (2005–2007), St ...

Production

Development

In February 2022, ''Production Weekly'' revealed the existence of an upcoming, untitled ''

'' series that was being developed under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''Grammar Rodeo''. It was later reported that

was being considered to direct at least one episode of the series, with

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau (; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...

serving as an executive producer after creating the ''Star Wars'' series ''

''. The new series was reported to be set during the High Republic era, with a formal announcement planned for ''Star Wars'' Celebration in May 2022. In mid-May, Christopher Ford was revealed to have created the series with Watts, with the pair executive producing and Ford serving as writer. The series was also revealed to be set after the events of ''

'' (1983), just like ''The Mandalorian'', and was described as a "galactic version of classic [

] Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age adventure films of the '80s". During ''Star Wars'' Celebration at the end of May 2022, the series' title was revealed to be ''Star Wars: Skeleton Crew''. It was confirmed to be set in the same time frame as ''The Mandalorian'' and ''

Ahsoka Ahsoka Tano is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced as the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, she is a supporting character in the animated film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2008) and the subsequent animated te ...

'', with

Dave Filoni David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked on ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', ''The Mandalorian'', and on the theatrical film and television series of '' Star Wars: The Clone ...

serving as an executive producer after doing the same on those series alongside Favreau. Another executive producer,

president Kathleen Kennedy, explained that Watts had approached her about making a ''Star Wars'' series inspired by the Amblin film ''

The Goonies ''The Goonies'' is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. In the film, kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astori ...

'' (1985). Kennedy had served as an executive producer on that film, and said ''Skeleton Crew'' "evolved out of that kind of enthusiasm in wanting to tell stories in this space". In March 2023, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, as well as David Lowery were revealed to have directed an episode each of the series. The following month, Kwan and Scheinert and Lowery were confirmed as directors, alongside

Jake Schreier Jacob Stacey Schreier (born September 29, 1981) is an American commercial, music video and film director. He was a founding member of Waverly Films, a Brooklyn-based filmmaking collective, and joined Park Pictures in 2006, releasing his first f ...

Bryce Dallas Howard Bryce Dallas Howard (born March 2, 1981) is an American actress and director. Howard was born in Los Angeles and attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, initially leaving in 2002 to take roles on Broadway but officially graduati ...

, and

Lee Isaac Chung Lee Isaac Chung (born October 19, 1978) is an American film director and screenwriter. His debut feature ''Munyurangabo'' (2007) was an Official Selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in the Kinyarwanda ...

Casting

With the February 2022 reports, it was believed the series was looking for four teenage actors and one 30-to-40-year-old actor as its series regulars. Casting of the four teenage actors was still underway in May 2022, with

revealed to be cast in the lead role at the end of the month. In April 2023, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith, and

were revealed as the series' lead children, with

and

also starring.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

had been happening for "a few weeks" by early September 2022, at Manhattan Beach Studios in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, under the working title ''Grammar Rodeo'' (a reference to ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

''s episode "

Bart on the Road "Bart on the Road" is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1996. In the episode, Bart makes his own fa ...

"). Sean Porter serves as cinematographer. Filming was scheduled to last until December 2022, and was previously expected to begin as early as June 2022. Filming officially wrapped on January 22, 2023.

Marketing

The first footage for the series was revealed at ''Star Wars'' Celebration London in April 2023.

Release

''Skeleton Crew'' is scheduled to be released on Disney+ in 2023.

References

External links

* * {{Lucasfilm 2020s American drama television series 2020s American television series debuts Coming-of-age television shows Disney+ original programming English-language television shows Star Wars television series Television shows filmed in California Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television series by Lucasfilm Upcoming television series