Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has come and gone, and while the creators of the Disney+ original hinted at pre-existing plans for the story’s continuation, and we thought the coming-of-age adventure was a breath of fresh air for the Star Wars universe, a second season is looking unlikely. Because it turns out Skeleton Crew is the least watched live-action Star Wars show ever – with viewership numbers falling below even divisive The Acolyte.
Which is a pity because a lot of enthusiasm (behind, and in front of, the camera) clearly went into Skeleton Crew, which consciously turned to classic 80s kids’ movies, like The Goonies, to show the familiar galaxy far, far away from a different perspective. Here are four adolescents lost in the most lawless corners of space; embroiled in a grand mystery centred on a legendary, lost treasure haul and the ruthless space pirates pursuing it.
Around the time of Skeleton Crew’s launch, in early December last year, we stood in for IGN Africa in a series of roundtable interviews with the show’s cast.
Specifically explored was what it’s like to become part of the Star Wars universe after years of looking on from afar. Considering Star Wars is rapidly approaching its 50th anniversary, growing up with the franchise applies as much to the show’s four young leads – Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern, Kyriana Kratter as KB, and Robert Timothy Smith as Neel – and the adventure’s big-name star, Jude Law, who plays the kids’ unlikely mentor and guide, Jod Na Nawood.
Thanks to Disney+ and their South African PR team for the opportunity to chat to these performers.
How did your friends react when you said that you were going to be part of the Star Wars universe?
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: I didn’t even have to tell my friend; my friend caught on. I made the mistake of, I told her I was doing an audition and then I happened to be wearing Star Wars pyjamas and she knew that I was getting further up in the casting process. And then she was like, “Are you doing a Star Wars thing?” And I was like, “No, how would I be doing that?” I think we all have a little bit of a similar story in that sense.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: Yeah, one of my friends found out when I was shooting. She, I guess, put the pieces together and she was like, “Are you shooting Skeleton Crew?” And then I was like, “No, no, definitely not. Why, why would you ever think that?” Then at the end she was like, “I knew it!” But all my friends have been really supportive about it, which I’m really grateful for.
Kyriana Kratter: I’ve always had my acting world and then my school-and-friend world kind of separated. Like I even had a little nickname, a fake name that was Ana. And some of my friends from my Ana world contacted me I think last night and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I watched your interviews. It’s so cool. Oh my gosh, you’re in Skeleton Crew.” And I was like, “What, how did you know about that?” Because I don’t really talk about my acting career that much but they’ve been really supportive and nice.
Robert Timothy Smith: I never really was able to tell my best friend, but I remember I just told him that I was doing something really kind of life-changing and he was trying to figure it out. But I remember after Celebration in London, he called me like 20 minutes after we announced that we were doing this and he was like, “I knew it!” and it was really funny.
Was it a dream of yours to act in a Star Wars production as a child? And what was the reaction of your family when you told them that you were going to be in Star Wars?
Jude Law: I mean, when I was a child and I was first introduced to this series, I was the prime age in the late Seventies when it came out and it transformed cinema forever and had a huge impact on how we played and what we played with.
I don’t believe the idea of being able to be an actor in a film hit me until I was in my late teens; it just seemed like an impossibility. So I don’t know that I would have been able to conceive of actually being in Star Wars. Although I kind of felt like I was in one when I was running around my garden playing with my sister pretending to be.
And my family were very excited. I have several friends too who are very excited that I was stepping into this universe.
What was your familiarity with Star Wars before working on Skeleton Crew? Did you grow up with the original trilogy or the sequels?
Robert Timothy Smith: Oh, the originals were definitely a big point in my life just because of how much I like those, and how much they kind of made my childhood.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: I watched Empire Strikes Back and that was my favourite, but I just love how magical Star Wars is and how it brings people together
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: It’s so iconic. I feel like when you think of the sci-fi genre, you think of Star Wars or at least that’s how it is for me. So it is really iconic and now being the ones carrying on this franchise is an honour.
Who are your favourite characters from the Star Wars world?
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: Neel (laughs).
Kyriana Kratter: I like the Porgs and R2-D2. Because they’re both really cute.
Robert Timothy Smith: I’d probably have to say Han Solo. I just think he’s very funny and you know, if you love him, he knows.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: Yeah, I love the iconic Han Solo. So probably him and Grogu as well because he’s so cute.
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: I’d say Luke and Ahsoka because Mark Hamill’s performance is iconic, and Ahsoka is just cool. Rosario Dawson is amazing.
What was your favourite memory from filming?
Jude Law: Gosh, there are so many. It’s really hard honestly to be able to say, “Oh, this single one,” so I’ll just recount something I really enjoyed. I loved the work I got to do with the various puppets, particularly SM-33 the droid, the huge droid, and the scene I have with the droid in the spaceship early on in Episode 3 or actually it might be 4.
It was just so thrilling to suddenly realise the potential that this puppet had, and working with the wonderful puppeteers, coming up with ideas of how he might move or what he could do with his fingers, or grab me, and how strong he was. You’re just allowing your imagination to run wild.
And the same goes for Kh’ymm, a wonderful character you meet in 3. Again, I was very keen to be able to interact with the puppet and have the puppet sort of physically land on me. All of that is very rewarding.
What was it like to work with Jude Law?
Robert Timothy Smith: He was definitely our mentor. He kind of turned us all into better actors. And I really feel like he always could give us advice about how to be better actors. And I just really kind of appreciate how he would really be there for us whenever we needed him.
Kyriana Kratter: He’s almost kind of fatherly. And he was really kind and wonderful. And just by being around him, he taught us so much and it was really an honour to get to work with him because he’s done so much. I was kind of fangirling when I saw him for the first time.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: Yeah, he does such a great job of keeping it a really fun set, and then when it needed to be professional. But he always kept the day fun and so did our crew and amazing directors. But he was so much fun and such, such a great person to be around.
With your young co-stars asked the question, “What’s it like working with Jude Law?” let’s flip the question around. What did you learn from Ravi, Ryan etc.?
Jude Law: Working with them was honestly an absolute joy. They were so prepared and professional, and they were really sweet kids and they worked incredibly hard from the get-go and were really up for the challenge; the highs and lows of their characters.
And then they were also great fun and [show creators] Chris (Ford) and Jon (Watts) set a great precedent of them being allowed to have fun and that fun should imbue the whole piece. And so, you know, when you let four 11-12 year olds play, it’s infectious and that was at the heartbeat of the piece.
Were you asked to watch any particular movies to get a feeling of the adventurous tone that Skeleton Crew is going for, along with the special bond the four of you have?
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: So we actually were recommended by Jon and Chris to watch E.T. and Goonies. I had already been familiar with the style, but then we all watched it together. Production set up a little movie area for us and we all watched it together.
And, it was a bonding experience while simultaneously being a learning experience, getting more familiar with the kind of nostalgic Eighties E.T.-Goonies Amblin style that we’re going for in the series.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: We had movie nights and we watched it together. We had snacks, bean bags and then I think we played Mario Kart right after.
Skeleton Crew was shot using StageCraft technology in conjunction with more traditional practical effects. As an actor, what is that like in comparison to, say, green screens. Does it impact your performance?
Jude Law: I mean, you make it work, whatever the environment but I would definitely choose Volume over green screen any day. And the detail and the attention to detail that went into the sets on this, creating the environments in the world was really on a level I’ve never experienced before.
When you’re in this kind of universe where you’ve got to make leaps of imagination – you’re walking on a moon; you’re in a star port; you’re in a dungeon; you’re on a spaceship traveling at hyperspeed – it does help. It’s an unusual environment to work in. You’re suspending belief and hoping to create some sort of plausibility. And so anything that is right there in front of you, or is at least within eyesight, can help make that a little easier. I’d say the same about having on-camera puppetry and animatronics, all of that, which also leans into the aesthetic of what made Star Wars work originally.
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: The sets were awesome. There were so many and they weren’t like just wallpaper lined up and you’re in a tiny little box. It was actual really big sets and so practical and it was almost life-size. They’re so well done and unique, and I had a lot of fun in the cockpit in the ship. The practicality of it was crazy.
The Volume was very interesting. I’ve never worked on a Volume before. If you don’t know what the Volume is, it’s basically like a bunch of 360 screens that you can put anything you want on it, and it kind of makes it like a green screen, but it’s already done. So you don’t edit it in in post. It’s an actor’s dream working on something like that, so you don’t have to imagine it.
Kyriana Kratter: Yeah, especially on the Volume. I think there was one scene I did and there was water, and they had water sounds playing. And along with that, there was also all the screens of the location and then the ground was connected to the Volume and with the bird sound, I was like, “Okay, where am I?” I just thought I was in Star Wars.
Did you have to undergo training to prepare for the more physically demanding action scenes? Was it fun?
Ravi Cabot-Conyers: Yeah, there were a lot of action sequences and most of the stunt work that we did was actually us. We actually had three days, before we started shooting, in this giant warehouse where we could prepare for the stunt training. We got our harnesses tested and we got to swing around the room and it was really fun.
What else did we do? Oh, we would do little warm-up exercises, like we did a bunch of stretches to get loosened up. [Stunt coordinator] George Cottle taught us how to fall properly without getting hurt for stunt sequences, so it was very fun.
Kyriana Kratter: On my own, I went running every day before we filmed. It’s kind of my meditation and it gets my brain moving, which I love. And I also did some martial arts like Wushu. After I met the Daniels and I saw Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I saw Michelle Yeoh doing all her martial arts moves, I got inspired to do Wushu and martial arts on the side.
Robert Timothy Smith: I think most of the fun sequences were the stunt parts and how they would kind of like have the noise of an explosion, so you really kind of felt like you were literally in that moment.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong: Yeah, it was really cool. I also did martial arts as well. I did kickboxing and Muay Thai and that was so much fun. But yeah, there was lots of fun stunt work and some harness stuff. And I remember the first day before we started shooting, we flew on this big zipline for the first time and we were like Superman.
Robert Timothy Smith: My dad actually played the Superman theme, and we were like, “Da da da da!”
What are the pros and cons when working on a big franchise like Star Wars?
Jude Law: Well, luckily I’ve worked on a few so I don’t know that there are many cons in that you kind of go in with your eyes open, and you know what to expect. It is hard going on the road and trying to talk about the projects without giving anything away. There’s only so much you’re allowed to say and you have to say it a million times and that gets really tricky.
The pros are, if you’re curious like me, or you’re into these franchises, then you really get to see behind the curtain how it’s all made. And you get to work with incredibly talented people in all departments who are working on these extraordinary visions.
You can watch the full eight episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+ now.