Skeleton Crew Could Be Repeating A Major Mistake From The Acolyte

Disney is taking audiences back to the 80s with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. The Goonies-inspired series is already proving a hit with both young audiences and Star Wars veterans alike. While Jude Law’s Jod Na Nawood plays a major role, the core cast of child characters steal the show in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. It remains to be seen what Nawood’s real motive is, but already, fans have a villainous theory about where things are heading.

Despite Law featuring prominently in Skeleton Crew’s marketing, he has (so far) only had a tiny role at the end of the show’s second episode. With Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) imprisoned at Starport Borgo, they meet with the Force-sensitive Nawood, who is trying to help them escape. But, are his intentions really that wholesome?

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Who is Skeleton Crew’s Jod Na Nawood?

Given Skeleton Crew’s eight-episode run, fans are expecting to find out more about Nawood as the series moves forward. Speaking to StarWars.com, Law gave a tantalizing tease of what’s to come for Nawood, suggesting there’s more to his character:

“Conflicted is certainly a word I’d use to describe Jod. Honestly, what inspired me most about playing Jod was the playfulness of those first three films, the heroes at the heart of those films and the way they perceived the galaxy. Ultimately, [Jod is] a survivor.”

Star Wars has always toed the line with morally ambiguous characters, with Boba Fett and Han Solo being two of the best examples. More recently, Ahsoka season 1 got close to canonizing the Legends-based idea of a Gray Jedi with Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll. Could Jod Na Nawood be another one?

There’s a popular theory doing the rounds that Nawood is the villainous Captain Silvo, first glimpsed at the start of episode 1. After failing to secure his pirate crew a haul of New Republic credits, the angry group turns on Silvo, and that’s the last he’s seen. Although it’s possible he’s been blasted out of the airlock like the New Republic freighter’s Captain, keen-eared fans have noticed that Silvo’s voice sounds a lot like Jude Law. As Silvo is never seen without his helmet, he seems a likely candidate to be the imprisoned Nawood – with Captain Silvo being an alias.

Throwing fuel on the fire, Law’s name appears first on the credits for the series debut. It’s true that Star Wars tends to put its biggest names first and does sometimes include them even if they don’t appear in an episode, but for theorists, it only backs up the idea that Nawood is Captain Silvo. Law has already teased the idea that Nawood is a man of many aliases, telling io9:

“One of Jod’s other names is actually taken from a really old early Star Wars comic book. I won’t tell you which one! But yeah, it’s a reference to a character in a very early comic.”

Even though Silvo isn’t a name that notably appears in the Star Wars history books, he likely has multiple names as a swashbuckling pirate who’s conquered the cosmos. Having Jod Na Nawood as an unscrupulous villain might have been a cool twist — if Star Wars hadn’t pulled off something similar in the recent release of The Acolyte’s only season before it was canceled.

Skeleton Crew’s Big Villain is Hiding in Plain Sight

There have been plenty of villain twists across the history of Star Wars, with Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the Dark Side being the most iconic. Elsewhere, Sheev Palpatine was revealed as the Emperor. Kylo Ren looked like he was about to be redeemed, but killed Han Solo. Barriss Offee betrayed Ahsoka Tano. Most recently, The Acolyte revealed that Manny Jacinto’s Qimir was actually the helmeted dark sider known as “The Stranger.”

While many clocked the Qimir twist as soon as Jacinto’s bumbling character was introduced, The Acolyte kept fans guessing with weekly theories about whether The Stranger was a young Darth Plagueis, Carrie-Anne Moss’ Indara, or even Lee Jung-jae’s Sol. The reveal was still well executed and set up an exciting future by canonizing Darth Plagueis in a second season that fans will now never see.

Nawood is similarly Force-sensitive to Qimir, although it’s not clear what his modus operandi is just yet. He could use the kids’ ship to help him escape and then enact revenge on his mutinous crew.

It’s an unfortunate case of bad timing. Skeleton Crew actually started principal photography in early September 2022, while The Acolyte kicked off on October 30. Both twists make sense, but whereas Qimir was an out-and-out villain intent on turning Osha to the Dark Side, Jod Na Nawood can go in the other direction and become a sympathetic villain who turns his back on his pirate ways. After all, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies gave Jack Sparrow a heroic arc where he became slightly less selfish.

Like any good Star Wars character, Law has teased that there are multiple layers to Nawood. Considering how he features so prominently alongside the kids in the promos, he’ll surely be a mentor figure to the group, like Obi-Wan was to Luke Skywalker. Given his Force-sensitive powers, he could also teach one or all of them the ways of the Force. Despite Skeleton Crew being its own project away from the typical Skywalker Saga, it just wouldn’t be a Star Wars outing without a morally complex Jedi. Even if Nawood isn’t a typical Jedi, the idea of a pirate Jedi is a novel one that would follow in the footsteps of The High Republic – The Blade’s Jedi Master Porter Engle.

Skeleton Crew debuted to a 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best-reviewed Star Wars show of the Disney+ era. With audiences and critics alike praising this as a love letter to the Steven Spielberg movies of the ‘80s, the focus is still very much on the younger cast of heroes. The Shistavanen pirate Brutus and the rest of Captain Silvo’s crew look destined to be the main villains that will hunt the kids and Nawood across the galaxy, but whatever Law’s Force-sensitive prisoner is up to, he’s likely to be a hero by the time the final credits roll.

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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Release Date

December 2, 2024

Cast

Jude Law , Ravi Cabot-Conyers , Ryan Kiera Armstrong , Kyriana Kratter , Robert Timothy Smith , Tunde Adebimpe , Kerry Condon , Nick Frost

Streaming Service(s)

Dis

Showrunner

Jon Watts , Christopher Ford