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Jon Favreau: What Skeleton Crew, The Clone Wars Share In Common & More

Jon Favreau on how Skeleton Crew fits tonally in The Mandalorian universe, a key trait it shares with Dave Filoni's The Clone Wars & more.

Published Wed, 03 May 2023 11:08:11 -0500

by Ray Flook

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With only a day to go until "Star Wars Day" (do we really need to explain it to you at this point?), we're getting some intel on what we can expect when Disney+ & Lucasfilm's upcoming Jude Law-starring Star Wars: Skeleton Crew hits our screens later this year. Set during the same time period as The Mandalorian, the series has been described as being a space-set version of the Spielberg/Amblin coming-of-age adventure films (like The Goonies) from the '80s. Stemming from director Jon Watts & writer Chris Ford, with Watts, Ford, Favreau & Dave Filoni executive producing, the series features episodes directed by Jon Watts, David Lowery, The Daniels, Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Lee Isaac Chung. In addition, Law is joined in the cast by Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Tunde Adebimpe, and Kerry Condon. In the following highlights from EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast, Favreau discusses how the series fits in the overall "Mandalorian" universe – and how the "Star Wars" universe is well-served by shows with different tones and styles as long as they stay true to core aspects of the franchise:

For Favreau, It's All About Establishing "Different Tones" for Each Series: "One of the things we really like about what the shows that we've been working on have turned into is that 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. 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."

Favreau on What "Skeleton Crew" Needing to "Feel Like 'Star Wars'" Means to Him: "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."

For Favreau, Dave Filoni's "The Clone Wars" Is a Perfect Example: "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."

While "Skeleton Crew" & "The Mandalorian" Are Different, Favreau Sees Them Similar in One Key Way: "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."

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