Jon Favreau Talks About How the Upcoming Series SKELETON CREW Will Fit Into the STAR WARS Aesthetic

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are building an epic empire within the Star Wars universe. The pair combined to bring us The Mandalorian, and the universe expanded to the Outer Rim to include The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka (which debuts in August). But while those three shows have all traded characters — some of whom first appeared in animated form on The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels — back and forth to create an interconnected universe that will culminate in a theatrical film, there is another seemingly completely new concept also making its way to our screens soon.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew “will tell the adventure of four kids seeking to find their way home in the big, bad galaxy.” Information on the show is scarce at this point, but footage shown to attendees at Star Wars Celebration in April glimpsed a Force-using Jude Law as what appeared to be a Jedi. The series — which was created by Spider-Man: Homecoming's Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, with Favreau and Filoni as executive producers — also takes place in the same post-Return of the Jedi time frame as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett, with characters from those shows expected to meet up in an upcoming feature film.

But how does a series focused on four young kids fit in with those other programs? Should fans expect a dramatic tonal shift for Skeleton Crew? Entertainment Weekly asked Favreau when he and Filoni stopped by EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast.

Favreau said:

"One of the things we really like about what the shows that we've been working on have turned into is that it the tone of each episode — and in certain cases each series — really reflects the storyteller of the filmmaker. So in The Mandalorian you could have many different tones. Even though the writing is consistent across them, different filmmakers will bring different perspectives. And so each episode hopefully feels different, though they should sit alongside one another."

Favreau says that same philosophy extends to the newest series:

"With Skeleton Crew, I would go even further there because it's Watts and Ford and a whole array of wonderful directors — some have worked with us before, some who haven't. And so each episode has its own feel to it."

Those wonderful directors include Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (fresh off Oscar glory for Everything Everywhere All at Once) as well as Bryce Dallas Howard, Lee Isaac Chung, David Lowery, and Jake Schreier. But the key to the tone of Skeleton Crew doesn't come just from the directors and creators, it also comes from the very top, in the form of Lucasfilm's president… who also happened to be one of the founders of Amblin Entertainment.

Favreau went on:

"With Kathy Kennedy running Lucasfilm, when John Watts and Chris Ford come in and talked about wanting to do something that feels like an Amblin movie and has that tone, it's like you're speaking right to the person who was there and knows the 11 herbs and spices that go into it. So it's interesting hearing them pitch it and how she reacts to that."

While the director agrees that Skeleton Crew "has to feel like Star Wars," he also notes that "when people think of Star Wars as a genre, it really is a number of subgenres within the Star Wars genre. Because those were [George Lucas'] influences, so it could feel like a Western, it could feel like a World War II film, it could feel like a samurai film. And so you could push limits."

Favreau points to one of Filoni's animated series as an example of pushing those limits:

"Especially on The Clone Wars, they deviated into many different [genres] — to thrillers and to noir and different types of adventures and different tones. So that's what's keeping us engaged and why I'm continuing my collaboration here, is because it's never like you're just doing one thing. There's always room."

In the end, Favreau explains that while Skeleton Crew may not feel like The Mandalorian, both shows can feel like they are part of the same galaxy.

"As long as you adhere to a certain aesthetic, and we all agree that it feels like it's Star Wars, there's a lot of room for how you can move around. It's interesting too, as you see at the [Star Wars Celebration] panel and these great trailers, how different they all are. But they all sit together. You would never group them together, but thanks to the world that George created, they all feel like they share a common underlying aesthetic."

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is et to premiere on Disney+ later in 2023. Are you looking forward to it?