Star Wars: Skeleton Crew co-creator Jon Watts has revealed he originally pitched the television series as a movie. He discussed the idea with Lucasfilm after the release of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, but his Marvel Studios commitments (Watts helmed two more Spider-Man films) prevented him from moving ahead with Skeleton Crew. In the interim, streaming service Disney+ launched, providing Watts and Christopher Ford with an avenue to alter their concept.
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“Over time, [Jon] Favreau made The Mandalorian and Disney+ came into existence, so it evolved, as the Spider-Man movies were being made, into a show, and that gave us more time to explore the galaxy and get into this world of piracy and have a little bit more fun with it,” Watts told TVLine. “And once I finished the third Spider-Man movie [No Way Home], we could finally get to work making it.”
Skeleton Crew is hardly the only Star Wars project to benefit from the advent of Disney+. Obi-Wan Kenobi followed a similar path, beginning development as a spin-off movie before it was repurposed as a television miniseries. Even the critically acclaimed Andor wouldn’t have happened without the streaming service. Lucasfilm initially rejected Tony Gilroy’s pitch for the show before streaming made feasible.
[Related: New Skeleton Crew Teaser Leans Hard Into the Nostalgia]
While Skeleton Crew was made for TV and will be seen by a majority of people at home, the title will still play on the big screen for a limited time. Disney and Lucasfilm put together special free theatrical screenings for the show’s first two episodes, coinciding with their December 2nd premiere on Disney+.
Based on Watts’ comments, it sounds like the basic Skeleton Crew premise remained the same throughout the project’s development. Switching it from a movie to TV simply allowed him and Ford to dig deeper into the idea, a benefit of long-form storytelling. Expanding it to eight episodes gives the creative team plenty of time to flesh out the characters and their dynamic in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a film. Skeleton Crew has also recruited an all-star list of directors, with the likes of Bryce Dallas Howard, the Daniels, David Lowery, and more joining Watts. It’ll be exciting to see these various voices put their stamp on the material.
Skeleton Crew may not have ever happened without Disney+. Watts’ initial pitch happened before Solo: A Star Wars Story bombed at the box office, which caused Lucasfilm to rethink their strategy. While the studio has struggled to figure out what’s next for Star Wars movies, streaming has become the home for spin-off stories that expand the galaxy far, far away in fascinating ways. Skeleton Crew looks like it will be an entertaining homage to the Amblin blockbusters of yesteryear, so it seems like its journey from movie to show was worth it.