Skeleton Crew: Jude Law Previews His ‘Chaotic’ Mystery Man, Says Star Wars Experience Is ‘Everything Times 10’
Jude Law has previously starred in kid-friendly fare such as the Fantastic Beasts films and Disney+’s Peter Pan & Wendy. And though three of his children are age 9 and under, he booked a role in Disney+’s latest Star Wars series, Skeleton Crew, “for me,” the two-time Academy Award nominee tells TVLine.
“I had very clear memories of seeing the first [Star Wars] film in the late ’70s and it really informing a lot of my childhood, along with millions of other people that were moved by it,” he says. “I also was curious to see how they were made. It was a wonderful role they offered me, and I loved the concept — it made sense to see this world through the eyes of children. I knew my own kids would be thrilled to see me in it, but I guess this one was for me.”
Hailing from Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts and Spider-Man: Homecoming writer Chris Ford, and set during the same timeframe as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew follows four kids who discover a buried spacecraft on their home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Early into said odyssey, they cross paths with Jod Na Nawood, an enigmatic character played by Law.
Skeleton Crew from the start has been likened to The Goonies, and Law whole-heartedly agrees. “You saw it in other ’80s movies too,” such as E.T. The Extraterrestrial, “where a gang of kids — and they’re very plausible kids who bicker and banter and have issues at home or at school — go off on some kind of adventure,” he reminds. “It definitely has that ’80s feel.”
The cast of Skeleton Crew — which premieres Monday, Dec. 2 with the first two of eight episodes, followed by weekly drops starting Tuesday, Dec. 10 — includes Ravi Cabot-Conyers (#BlackAF), Ryan Kiera Armstrong (2022’s Firestarter), Kyriana Kratter (BUNK’D) and Robert Timothy Smith as the aforementioned kids (Wim, Fern, KB and Neel), plus grown-ups Kerry Condon (Better Call Saul), Tunde Adebimpe (The Girlfriend Experience) and Nick Frost (Into the Badlands), the latter of whom voices the pirate droid SM-33.
Law did not do chemistry reads with the young cast; instead, the producers “obviously had great confidence because they found this wonderful gang,” he raves, “and they were immediately ready and professional, and just talented actors. And because they were kids, they brought this energy of joy and fun and playfulness that was really infectious. It really buoyed everyone on a daily basis and added that magical tonality to the piece.”
But who (maybe what) is Jod? After all, the word “Jedi” is uttered in one of the trailers, preceded by his levitating of a jail cell key. And in an early episode, his suggestion of a “reward” at the end of his and the kids’ adventure very much evokes a certain OG smuggler.
“Han [Solo], Lando [Calrissian]… they all kind of exist in a similar sphere as Jod,” Law posits. Jod has “slightly questionable morals, but probably has a good heart, and is used to surviving by his wits.”
Does Jod beg the same scrutiny as Law’s Captain Marvel character, Kree commander Yon-Rogg?
Measuring his words carefully, Law eventually responds, “The best way to answer that is Yon-Rogg had a clear presentation of himself, whereas in fact what he really wanted was not the opposite but was certainly hidden. Jod is much more instinctive and a little more chaotic, so not quite as duplicitous — but potential capable of being!”
Law is no stranger to IP-driven, VFX-heavy projects, including Captain Marvel and the Fantastic Beasts films. But Skeleton Crew‘s mix of CGI, puppetry and other filmmaking magic, he says, exists on a whole other plane.
“There’s a level of [filmmaking] in Star Wars that’s like no other,” he professes. “I’d never worked on the Volume [digital backdrop] before, and I’ve never done quite as much work with puppets and animatronic masks and robots, so that was a real insight, and very enjoyable. ‘Everything times 10’ is a better way to word it!”
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Cool. I guess I need to watch the other series as well but this seems more interesting.