This week’s episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew introduced a new character named Kh’ymm that has fans excited for several different reasons. For one thing, the owl-like creature is voiced by Alia Shawkat, and she seems perfectly suited for the role. For another, Kh’ymm’s species may be the latest bit of Star Wars worldbuilding revived into Disney’s continuity.
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Fair warning: there are spoilers ahead! Skeleton Crew took our heroes from the pirate haven Port Borgo to an observatory where Ja Na Nawood (Jude Law) looks up his old acquaintance Kh’ymm. She did her best to get Jod arrested by the New Republic authorities, but she extended her friendship to the kids he was traveling with. Shawkat is perfect to deliver this character’s no-nonsense attitude, even if it is a far cry from her time as the mischievous Maeby Fünke on Arrested Development. In the end, Jod and the children escape from her planet, but Kh’ymm offers to help the children in the future if needed. It seems likely that we’ll see her again.
Die-hard fans of the franchise are particularly pleased to see a member of Kh’ymm’s species on screen. She seems to be a Sharalian, which is a type of being originally developed for A New Hope in 1977 and included in the concept art book The Star Wars Portfolio. Artists later re-worked this design for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but even there, they were cut from the final episode. They were finally named in the Blu-ray release of The Clone Wars Season 3.
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Deep cut character designs aside, many fans on social media celebrated seeing Shawkat join the Star Wars franchise this week. The actress has done a little bit of everything over the years, but is still best known for sitcoms and comedies. Hearing her distinct voice in a galaxy far, far away just made long-time fans happy.
Skeleton Crew is weaving quite a web of mysteries so far, and any unraveling that has been done so far is thanks to Kh’ymm. We now know that the main characters’ home planet, At Attin, is intentionally hidden and segregated from the rest of the galaxy – apparently by choice. We also know that the children are told very little about the worlds outside, including the very existence of the Empire and the recent battles fought to topple it. The four of them hadn’t heard that Alderaan was destroyed.
Meanwhile, the identity of Nawood is clearly important to the story going forward. The Force-wielding smooth-talker now claims he is not a Jedi, which seems believable since he was recently the captain of a pirate crew going by the name Silvo. However, Kh’ymm seems to know him by a third name, Crimson Jack, so there is a lot to unravel in his past before we can say for certain.
Skeleton Crew airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+. The three episodes released so far are streaming there now.