Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Season 2 Would Avoid Major Stranger Things Problem

If Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is renewed for a second season, co-creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford know how they would avoid one of the biggest issues plaguing Stranger Things. Without getting into too much detail, Watts confirmed that the duo already have an idea in mind for Skeleton Crew Season 2, and as they develop it, they’re accounting for the ages of the show’s young cast members. “It would be something like [a three to four-year time jump] to make sense,” Watts told Collider. “But we wouldn’t do like a Stranger Things thing where we’re like ‘It’s the next day,’ because it won’t be.”

“It’s built into it that it would be a bigger time jump forward because it does take so long to get things moving,” Ford added. “There are so many repercussions. It’s like, you kind of want to catch up later.”

Skeleton Crew revolves around a group of four children who get lost in the Star Wars galaxy and have to find their way home. Taking inspiration from ’80s Amblin productions like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies, the series relies heavily on the kid actors playing the roles of Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB, who are all between 13-14 years old. The dynamic between the young cast is one of the highlights of Skeleton Crew, which has earned largely positive reviews since its premiere on Disney+.

[Related: Stranger Things Reveals Time Jump Between Seasons 4 and 5 (And Its Length)]

Famously, Netflix’s Stranger Things is also built around a young cast, but the show arguably hasn’t done the best job adapting to its stars growing up. Later seasons depict the core group in the early days of their high school career, when the actors playing characters like Mike and Dustin are now in their early 20s. As a result, the upcoming Stranger Things Season 5 features the show’s largest time jump. The creative team was prepared to deal with the challenges presented by the actors getting older, relying on the costumes, hair, and makeup departments to work their magic.

Skeleton Crew Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet, but if Lucasfilm decides to renew the show, having there be a sizable time jump would be the way to go. It’ll likely take several years for those episodes to come to fruition, meaning it would be a stretch for the actors (who will have matured over that time) to continue playing their characters as children. While it’s still too early to speculate where Skeleton Crew Season 2 could go story-wise, aging the characters up with their actors opens avenues to intriguing possibilities. It allows the creative team to explore the characters at a different point in their lives, giving them a new set of challenges to overcome on their next adventure.

It’s encouraging that Watts and Ford are brainstorming Skeleton Crew Season 2 and have solutions to overcome real-life hurdles, but it remains to be seen if the show will continue. Having an idea isn’t a guarantee a series will be brought back; Leslye Headland had plans for further seasons of The Acolyte before that show was cancelled. Fortunately, Skeleton Crew has been well-received in the early going, which is a point in its favor. Hopefully, it continues to draw praise and emerges as a much-needed winner for the Star Wars franchise. Given how well Watts and Ford have tapped into what makes Star Wars fun, it would be interesting to see where they take the crew from here.