Where does ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’ fit into the Star Wars timeline?

On December 18, 2024By Littum

It’s easy to forget that the “Star Wars” we’ve seen unfold since director George Lucas’s first concoction burst onto the big screen back in 1977 actually happened eons ago — as in “a long time ago” — and not in a distant future period, despite the futuristic spaceships and lightsabers.

It might seem obvious to most fans, but it’s worth mentioning as we delve into the timeline of Disney+’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” to tweak the calendar to determine where Wim, Fern, Neel, KB and Jod Na Nawood’s misadventures with treasure and space pirates fall within the overall “Star Wars” timeline. Given all the prequels, sequels, and spinoffs seemingly sprouting up in theaters and on the Disney+ streaming platform, it can be disorienting to try to arrange the material into a consistent, quickly ascertainable datebook.

For the impatient, the quick answer is that “Skeleton Crew” rolls out in a time frame after “Return of the Jedi”.. Although the “Skeleton Crew’s” protected planet At Attin appears to be in some sort of time warp, having been cut off from the rest of the galaxy far, far away by a glittering barrier, it still exists within the general framework of the fictional universe , who portrays in “Star Wars” movies, TV series, novels, comics and video games. Also, let’s remember that our lost children are from a returning planet that strangely still uses golden Old Republic credits as currency.

An adult space hero surrounded by children and an alien — Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law) guides children through the galaxy in “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” (Image credit: Disney+)

Officially, “Skeleton Crew” takes place in the year 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), placing it firmly five years after the events of “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi”. It’s in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, when furball Ewoks helped the Rebel Alliance defeat Imperial forces on the forest moon of Endor, the Death Star 2 was demolished, and Luke played savior to his father Darth Vader when the Emperor supposedly fell to his death.

That Attin’s meticulously dull suburbs and precise bureaucratic organization and its recruitment of young people into its monotonous administrative fold could be a small seed planted by the founders of the First Order to begin rebuilding its infrastructure remains to be seen. The answer could be even scarier!

It seems that “Skeleton Crew” creators Jon Watts and Chris Ford will definitely connect this secret world with the sinister plans of the Emperor and his acolytes, possibly laying a foundation for the next iteration of the power-hungry Ashes of the Dismounted. Galactic Empire. Or maybe we are just way off in our speculations!

“First of all, we chose that era because it’s the best time for kids to be lost in the galaxy, because it’s also the worst time for kids to be lost in the galaxy,” Watts told TechRadar. “There’s no one in place to step in and help them. But we kept it a little flexible because we’re tied to the age of the kids. So as we look to the future, we’re still figuring out where that fits on the exact timeline.”

A werewolf creature assembled with a crew of space pirates

Brutus and his band of intergalactic pirates in “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” (Image credit: Disney+)

The year 9 ABY, when the New Republic was just gaining its galactic foothold after the Empire crumbled, is also worth a closer look as it coincides with the events of Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Ahsoka,” so these characters could have fun cameos. At this point, the history-changing clashes between the Jedi and the Sith have obviously not been absorbed by all citizens, especially in the Outer RIM and mystical destinations like At Attin, as evidenced by Wim having a fantasy-like reverence for these epic encounters of good vs. . pain.

Moving forward from the “Skeleton Crew” time parameters to provide more temporal context, two more decades will pass before the events of the first part of the sequel trilogy, “Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens” and its story about Rey, Finn and Poe. The 2015 JJ Abrams feature is set in 34 ABY.

“Yeah, it’s like we’ve thrown a dart, but it hasn’t quite landed on the board yet,” noted Ford in the same interview. “So yes, there will be an answer one day, and it will be an exact date.”