Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Was Inspired By An Unexpected Video Game Series

Later this year, Skeleton Crew will introduce several new characters to the Star Wars universe, including Jude Law’s Force-empowered Jod Na Nawood and Jaleel White’s cyborg pirate, Gunter. While the focus of the show is on four kids who are lost in space, there are going to be a lot of pirates in Skeleton Crew. That’s fitting because one of the inspirations behind the series was a classic LucasArts video game that also featured pirates.

While speaking with EW, Skeleton Crew co-creator Jon Watts confirmed that his love for the Monkey Island video game series informed his take on the pirates in Skeleton Crew. “I’m also a big fan of Monkey Island,” said Watts. “That’s also classic Lucas. So somewhere between Star Wars pirates and Monkey Island pirates. I think we found our sweet spot.”

The Monkey Island games were launched in 1990, and the franchise was recently revived with Return To Monkey Island, which was overseen by creator Ron Gilbert. The tone of those games also appeared to inspire the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The cast of Skeleton Crew includes Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern, Kyriana Kratter as KB, Robert Timothy Smith as Neel, Nick Frost as SM 33, Frank Tatasciore as Brutus, and Kerry Condon in a currently undisclosed role.

Skeleton Crew will premiere on December 3 on Disney+.