Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creator says he'll "protect" young cast as they opt to "stay off social media"

“We had those really early, fat, chunky lightsabers,” he says, reflecting on the years in the late '70s when Star Wars mania first swept the UK. “They didn’t make any noises. They barely lit up. But we would go ‘pew-pew!’ and bash them about!”

There is a fitting symmetry, of course, in the child who once pretended to be in Star Wars growing up to be in it for real. Yet for Law, now 51 and the star of the new Disney Plus series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, it means more than that.

“That leap of the imagination,” he says. “Play-acting as a kid, having that connection with roles that you want to recreate – it’s probably the reason I’m an actor.”

That sense of childhood wonder – the generations of kids transfixed by starships, Jedi and adventure – is writ large in Skeleton Crew, the Star Wars story that puts the kids in charge. It follows four pre-teen protagonists who stumble upon a mysterious spaceship in the suburbs of their seemingly mundane, Earth-like planet.

The wide-eyed Wim, played by 13-year-old American Ravi Cabot-Conyers, believes the ship leads to a Jedi temple. Instead, inside is the wreck of an old pirate ship – one that maroons them in space with no way back home.

Law plays the enigmatic rogue Jod Na Nawood, a swashbuckling space pirate who tags along with the kids in the hope that they will lead him to long-lost treasure, entering the story properly in the third episode of the series. “I took a little bit of Han Solo as inspiration,” he explains. “I adore that slightly cynical, world-weary swagger.”

Jude Law is no stranger to big, family-friendly franchises. In recent years he has popped up as villain Yon-Rogg in comic book movie Captain Marvel, and as the young Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts films.

Law is the father of seven children, most recently with psychologist wife Phillipa Coan in 2023. Is he seeking out roles that his offspring can watch? “Sure, sure,” he says, “but it’s also just my curiosity as an actor. I like that range of parts, of moods and worlds. I think the older I get, the more in touch I am with the child who was in awe of cinema. I am stepping into films that speak to that child.”

Skeleton Crew was explicitly inspired by the Amblin films of the 1980s, with a specific debt to Richard Donner’s big-hearted 1985 classic The Goonies.

“That was an era where films were being made with kids as the main characters and the kids were taken seriously,” says co-showrunner Jon Watts, best known for directing the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. “I got to spend some time with Richard Donner before he died,” adds Watts, “and he told me that when you cast a kid, you don’t cast them to play a role; you cast them because of who they are.”

On screen, the kids are a motley crew of misfits. Wim’s timid best friend Neel is a blue alien elephant, portrayed via VFX by 13-year-old Robert Timothy Smith. Joining the boys are 14-year-old Kyriana Kratter and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who play (respectively) the booksmart cyborg KB and the feisty, hoverbike-racing Fern.

In person, the young actors are a whirlwind of teenage American excitability, prone to shrieks of laughter and dizzying non sequiturs (“what if they made a Neel cereal called Neelios?!” offers Smith at one point, unprompted). The shoot, which utilised a mix of practical sets and an immersive LED backdrop called The Volume, “felt like we were at Star Wars camp”, recalls Cabot-Conyers, breathless.

For Law, shepherding four hyperactive kids through the galaxy came naturally. “They taught me a lot about letting go and enjoying the playfulness,” he says, before adding that the trick on set was in striking a balance between “letting them know that there were demands on them, but also making them feel comfortable”.

“I was starstruck!” giggles Armstrong. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Jude Law is in the same room as me!’”

“He was constantly professional but also making room for fun. Between takes, we would have thumb wars and stuff!” says Cabot-Conyers. Smith adds, “He was like a dad to us.”

They may well need a protector now. It’s hard to deny that the Star Wars universe has become a hostile space in recent years. Many of the actors involved in 2017’s The Last Jedi, for instance, found themselves the targets of misogynistic and racist abuse from disgruntled fans; a trend that has continued across other projects.

Was there any hesitation about bringing children into that world? “We absolutely want to make sure that the kids are protected,” says Watts, cautiously. “We’re keeping an eagle eye on all of it, to make sure they’re OK.” He will not reveal specifics, although the kids themselves are more forthcoming. “I’m going to stay off social media,” says Kratter.

Such a divided fanbase speaks to a larger question about the future of Star Wars, a Disney franchise in flux. Since the release of 2019’s critically panned The Rise of Skywalker, an array of new films have been announced and cancelled.

On Disney Plus, there is a scattershot feel to its range of Star Wars shows, many of which rely heavily on nostalgia. “I feel like Star Wars, for me, is something that I saw my parents really loving,” says Kratter, reflecting on what Star Wars means to kids her age. The hope from studio heads must be that Skeleton Crew can hook a whole new generation.

“My dream is to have someone who has never seen Star Wars, and someone who knows everything about Star Wars to watch this together,” says Watts. “I think when Star Wars works well it makes you feel like you’re 10, no matter how old you are.”

“The kids being the ones in jeopardy is so suited to Star Wars,” adds Law, who, for a moment, is also 10 years old again. “I remember, as a child, watching Darth Vader say, ‘I am your father…’” He pauses, shaking his head at the memory. “I mean, my world fell apart.”

There’s a hint of Darth Vader in Law’s Jod and his mysterious ability to use the Force. Law is reluctant to blow his character’s secret backstory, but is effusive on finally being able to put his best “using the Force” acting into action. “I’ve been practising that for 45 years,” he says, grinning. “And at last to have something float and move towards me – it was a dream come true!”

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