Key Takeaways
- Star Wars: Skeleton Crew received positive reviews for expanding the Star Wars world with a relatively young cast led by Jude Law.
- The show successfully kept many details under wraps using code names from The Simpsons, ensuring secrecy and anticipation.
- The decision to maintain secrecy around character identities showcases the lengths Disney went to in order to build intrigue and keep fans guessing.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both critics and fans after the first few episodes dropped on Disney Plus, as the Star Wars world has been expanded once again. The cast, led by Jude Law, is relatively young for the majority, but they all proved themselves capable of handling the pressures that come with this universe.
Media and fans watch modern-day Star Wars projects keenly to get glimpses of what the story might entail or which characters will be appealing. However, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew did a good job of keeping the majority of it under wraps, and that’s because of how hard the cast and crew worked, with a bit of help fromThe Simpsons.
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Skeleton Crew Continues a Solid Star Wars Tradition
Star Wars movies from the 70s borrowed from serials from the 30s and 40s, so it makes sense that the 80s and 90s would inform the franchise today.
Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who plays Wim, recently spoke to CBR and revealed how they worked hard to maintain secrecy in revealing their names. He said, “We actually did have other code names when we were on set, and they were The Simpsons characters. The show was also called – the code name was ‘Grammar Rodeo’ because of that one Simpsons episode where they run away, and then they were like, ‘We were at a Grammar Rodeo!’ So, we had the names of The Simpsons characters. There was Bart, there was Milhouse, there was Lisa, and there was Maggie. They couldn’t put those code names in the script because it would be kind of weird if there were Simpsons names on our script. But it was really funny seeing all the different names and stuff and then realizing [it was a Star Wars project].”
Keeping code names was obviously Disney’s bid to keep the identity of the characters a secret, likely to avoid them leaking to the press. It’s something that they took seriously, as the actors were also not told who they were auditioning for when they stepped into the room. Instead, they were just informed that it was a Star Wars project as the script they were handed was untitled and had different names, showcasing how far Disney went to keep things under wraps.
It also highlights how popular The Simpsons characters and episodes remain, even with a relatively young cast born long after the hit animation started airing. The ‘Grammar Rodeo’ episode was released in 1966 and follows Bart and his friends on a road trip when they claim to be attending a Grammar Rodeo. The fact that the showrunners were able to incorporate aspects of old episodes such as this showcases the lengthy impact that the show has had.
The decision to keep the character names as secret as possible paid off for Disney because there was genuine intrigue about what this project was all about from the moment the first episodes were made available to watch. Going above and beyond with code names is a wise idea, especially for a cast as young as Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, as it just adds an extra layer of security to everything that is being created so that it has the biggest impact possible upon its release.
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise originally created by George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd with the 1977 motion picture. The science fiction franchise follows the adventures of characters (both humanoid and alien) in outer space including those who can wield a mystical power known as the Force. Since the release of the original trilogy of movies, the franchise has expanded to include multiple films and branched out to other media like comics, video games, tv shows, theme park attractions, and more. The IP and Lucasfilm were sold to Disney in 2012.