Lucasfilm has released the first trailer for Skeleton crew, what will be the next Star Wars series to hit Disney Plus when it debuts on the streaming service on December 3. The footage from the D23 Expo on the heels of The Acolyteand contributes to Lucasfilm and Disney’s experimental phase of taking Star Wars out of the Skywalker safe zone.
The series follows a group of young children on an intergalactic adventure and is heavily influenced by the classic Amblin Entertainment films of the 80s, such as AND, The GooniesAnd Gremlins (just like Netflix’s big hit Stranger ThingsJude Law stars alongside the young cast and appears in the trailer in full Jedi costume.
The trailer even suggests that the show will go so far as to incorporate a Star Wars take on the Amblin films’ suburban ’80s Americana, with shots of the kids at school and running around a peaceful neighborhood. There’s some more familiar Star Wars action, too, as the kids ride speeder bikes, hide in spaceships, and run from space pirates. Skeleton crew also plays on the Star Wars series’ recent obsession with people toiling in cubicles in administrative offices. (What’s that?)
Skeleton crew appears to be a largely standalone adventure, although it takes place in a similar time frame as The Mandalorian — the early days of the New Republic — and the trailer hints at a direct link to that show, in the form of the space pirate Vane, played by Marti Matulis.
The show was created by Jon Watts, director of the three most recent Spider-Man films, with his collaborator Christopher Ford. Watts and Ford have assembled an all-star cast of directors for the series, including David Lowery (The Green Knight), the Daniels (Everything everywhere at once), and Lee Isaac Chung (Whirlwinds), while the cast consists of The Banshees of InisherinKerry Condon and Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter and Robert Timothy Smith play the children.