“I love Star Wars. I would love to do more Star Wars and I can’t say anything more,” Watts revealed during the festival appearance. “I always get in trouble when I do these interviews and I always end up saying something, like, I get in trouble and shouldn’t have said that.” When pressed specifically about the possibility of helming another season of Skeleton Crew, he offered an even more intriguing non-answer. “I can’t say exactly what it might be if it were even a thing,” he added.
Jon Watts is careful when saying whether there is more Star Wars in his future after Skeleton Crew (though it sounds like there is as he admits “I love Star Wars”). pic.twitter.com/WrXT8FQTRV
These remarks position Watts as a creator who is still very much in the Lucasfilm orbit. That’s not exactly a surprise, as his successful development and execution of Skeleton Crew, which brought a unique tone to the franchise, make him a valuable creative partner. Plus, even if Watts is not working on any Star Wars project at the moment, by avoiding a direct denial, he ensures his name remains in the conversation for future directorial duties.
How Skeleton Crew Brought an Amblin Adventure to Star Wars
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
The excitement surrounding Watts’s potential return is rooted in the unique space Star Wars: Skeleton Crew carved out for itself within the expansive franchise. The series, created by Watts and Christopher Ford, was pitched to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy as a galactic version of a classic Amblin Entertainment coming-of-age story, directly inspired by films like The Goonies. This approach resulted in a series that felt distinct from other modern Star Wars shows. Instead of focusing on seasoned warriors or powerful Jedi masters, the narrative centers on four children, Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and the alien Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), who get lost in the galaxy after discovering an abandoned ship on their homeworld of At Attin.
Their adventure places them in the path of Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), a Force-using pirate who becomes their reluctant guide. This dynamic, which places the children’s perspective at the forefront, was a deliberate choice to capture the feeling of an adventure story that just happens to be about kids, rather than a show made exclusively for them. Furthermore, Skeleton Crew expertly balanced its youthful sense of wonder with genuine peril, creating a tone that felt both nostalgic for 80s adventure films and fresh for the Star Wars universe. This successful tonal experiment is a major reason why Watts’s continued influence is a major asset for the franchise’s future.
Set in the same post-Return of the Jedi timeline as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew grounded its story in a familiar era while exploring uncharted corners of the galaxy. The series enriched the lore by introducing new planets, species like the Myykian, and a different kind of protagonist group. It showed that a Star Wars story could be deeply personal and character-driven on a smaller scale, focusing on the universal theme of finding one’s way home. The project also attracted impressive directorial talent, including episodes helmed by David Lowery and the Oscar-winning duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, further cementing its creative pedigree.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is currently available on Disney+.
What kind of Star Wars project would you like to see Jon Watts tackle next? Let us know in the comments.
