2022 is wrapping up, and as we look towards 2023, there is so much to be excited about. Star Wars fans are going to be spoiled in 2023, with so many exciting projects on the way in the world of books, comics, games, and especially on Disney+, with six shows on the horizon in 2023, easily the most packed year of content we’ve had since the Disney acquisition a decade ago. I’ve seen plenty of creators and friends share their most anticipated Star Wars projects for 2023, and far and away the one project I am barely seeing anyone say is their most anticipated project, heck the one I’m barely seeing anyone even talk about, is the upcoming series Skeleton Crew. With little information on the series, besides the fact it’s coming in 2023, it’s kind of understandable why that’s the case, but me personally, and I am incredibly excited for this series, perhaps more than any of the other shows coming next year. Of course it’s incredibly easy to get excited about projects like Ahsoka and the third season of The Mandalorian, which are going to get the most attention, but I’m here to tell you why you should definitely not be sleeping on Skeleton Crew as we head into the new year…
So first of all, what exactly do we know about this series? It’s kind of crazy how little is known about this show compared to other shows in the pipeline. Hell, The Acolyte, which isn’t scheduled to release until 2024, after this show comes out, already has a fully announced cast, synopsis, and leaked set pics aplenty all across the internet, whereas our knowledge of this series is the lead actor as well as a handful of behind the scenes creatives. We do know that it will take place in the “Mandoverse”, occurring in the same time period as The Mandalorian and it’s related spin-offs, with Mando mainstays Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni attached as executive producers. Jon Watts, most known as the director behind the MCU Spider-Man films, will be bringing his creative vision to a galaxy far, far away as the series showrunner. Watts talked about being influenced by various Amblin Entertainment films when pitching the series, and Jude Law was revealed to be starring in the series back at Star Wars Celebration in May. And that’s where the list of what we know essentially ends, but the little scraps that those behind the show have given us about what we can expect are what excites me the most about this show, and as a result, has made it one of my most anticipated of the upcoming Star Wars projects.
I think the little amount known related to the series, as well as it getting somewhat lost in the hype for bigger projects, is what is making the show stand out to me so much more, the mystery around what we can be getting with this series, and the fact it feels the most new and fresh out of what is coming for live-action Star Wars next year. Do not get me wrong, I very much enjoy the other shows in the Mandoverse, and am very excited to see the next adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu in March, but getting to see new aspects of Star Wars storytelling is what is really exciting me at the moment and energizing me as a fan, to see stories told in this universe that I previously thought were impossible. Andor was a game changing home-run for the franchise, with The Acolyte sounding just as different and fresh from a narrative perspective, and despite its connections to the Mandoverse, which can feel a little self-contained and less expansive for the galaxy, I am getting that same sense of freshness from Skeleton Crew. It feels like a show that will bring something new to the table.
What really appeals to me is how the show has been described in interviews. The series has been described as “Stranger Things or The Goonies in space”, with Watts stating the show, is a “galactic version of classic [Amblin Entertainment] coming-of-age adventure films of the '80s”, and if that’s not right up my alley, I don’t know what is. I simply adore Stranger Things, so if the show’s young cast is able to even come close to matching the charm and energy of the Stranger Things cast, this will be such a fun watch every week. As a sucker for coming-of-age stories, I also really love when there are opportunities for these types of stories to be told in the worlds I love. Ms. Marvel was one of my favorite shows of the year, mainly due to just how much I fell in love with the family and friends that the series was centered on, the superheroics were barely on my mind when I turned on the new episode, I just wanted to see more of Kamala’s life and her relationships with her loved ones, and I’m hoping we can have a similar story here with Skeleton Crew. Yes, it’ll still be Star Wars, it’ll have the familiar themes and visuals that we all know and love, and it being in the Mandoverse I’m sure it’ll have those moments where we can all cheer at our screen because “OH MY GOD IT’S AHSOKA!”, but I hope we get a series full of great character bonding moments between the young cast, and that we get to see them grow up in front of us throughout the series.
When Star Wars has dabbled in coming-of-age tales in the past, it’s been a success. It’s very familiar territory for the books and the comics, but the stories of Ahsoka, Ezra, and Omega in the animated shows have very much been coming-of-age tales. When we are introduced to these characters, we see them as the young, immature members of the cast with the most to learn, and by the show’s end, we see them as the complex, well-developed, battle-hardened characters that represent the best that the Light side has to offer. Getting to see a very character-driven story featuring a whole cast of young characters, in what’s essentially Stranger Things but Star Wars, that sounds like a show that will hook me from the first episode.
So yeah, in my mind, Skeleton Crew has the potential to be one of the most unique Star Wars shows we’ve ever had, and I cannot wait until we get more revealed about the series. I love Jude Law, so the casting is off to a great start, but I hope we get more news soon about who will be playing the rest of the new cast, so we can speculate what type of characters they’ll be playing, and what dynamic Jude Law will have with the young cast. Is he a hero? A villain? Someone we already know? I cannot wait to find out. 2023 will be an incredible year for Star Wars, and Skeleton Crew will perhaps be what defines the year when it’s all said and done.
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