Skeleton Crew can repeat a big mistake from Acolyte

Important takeaways

• Fans love Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, especially the young heroes who steal the show.
• Although Jude Law's character plays a major role, his motives remain a mystery, leading to villainous theories.
• Law's character, Jod Na Nawood, could be a central figure with multiple aliases, suggesting a complex moral journey.

Disney takes the audience back to the 80s with Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew. The Goonies-inspired series have already proven to be a hit with both young audiences and Star Wars veterans alike. While Jude Law's Jod Na Nawood plays a major role, the main cast of child characters steals the show in Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew. It remains to be seen what Nawood's true motives are, but already fans have a villainous theory about where things are headed.

Although Law figures prominently in Skeleton Crews marketing, he has (so far) only had a small role at the end of the show's second episode. With Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter) and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) imprisoned at Starport Borgo, they encounter the force-sensitive Nawood, who tries to help them escape. But are his intentions really that healthy?

Who is Skeleton Crew's Jod Na Nawood?

Given Skeleton Crews eight episodes, fans expect to learn more about Nawood as the series progresses. Speaking to StarWars.com, Law gave a tantalizing tease of what's to come for Nawood, hinting that there's more to his character:

“Conflict is really a word I would use to describe Jod. Honestly, what inspired me most about playing Jod was the playfulness of the first three films, the heroes at the heart of those films and how they perceived the galaxy. Ultimately, [Jod is] a survivor.”

Star Wars has always walked the line with morally ambiguous characters, with Boba Fett and Han Solo being two of the best examples. In recent times, Ahsoka Season 1 came close to canonizing the Legends-based idea of ​​a gray Jedi with Ray Stevenson's Baylan Skoll. Could Jod Na Nawood be another?

There is a popular theory that Nawood is the villainous Captain Silvo, first seen at the beginning of Episode 1. After failing to secure his pirate crew a load of New Republic credits, the angry group turns on Silvo, and it's the last he is seen. While it's possible he's blasted out of the airlock as the captain of the New Republic freighter, keen fans have noticed that Silvo's voice sounds a lot like Jude Law. Since Silvo is never seen without his helmet, he seems a likely candidate to be the imprisoned Nawood – with Captain Silvo as an alias.

Adding fuel to the fire, Law's name first appears in the credits of the series' debut. That's true Star Wars tend to put their biggest names first and sometimes include them even if they don't appear in an episode, but for theorists that just supports the idea that Nawood is Captain Silvo. Law has already teased the idea that Nawood is a man of many aliases, telling io9:

“One of Jod's middle names is actually taken from a really old early Star Wars comic. I'm not going to tell you which one! But yeah, it's a reference to a character in a very early comic.”

Although Silvo is not a name that appears particularly in Star Wars In the history books, he probably has several names as a pirated pirate who has conquered the cosmos. Having Jod Na Nawood as an unscrupulous villain might have been a cool twist – if Star Wars had not accomplished anything similar in the last edition of The Acolytes only season before it was canceled.

Skeleton Crew's big bad is hiding in plain sight

There have been plenty of villainous twists in history Star Warswith Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side being the most iconic. Elsewhere, Sheev Palpatine was revealed as the Emperor. Kylo Ren looked like he was about to be redeemed, but killed Han Solo. Barriss Offee betrayed Ahsoka Tano. Last, The Acolyte revealed that Manny Jacinto's Qimir was actually the helmeted dark side known as “The Stranger”.

While many clocked the Qimir twist as soon as Jacinto's mischievous character was introduced, The Acolyte kept fans guessing with weekly theories about whether The Stranger was a young Darth Plagueis, Carrie-Anne Moss's Indara, or even Lee Jung-jae's Sol. The reveal was still well executed and set up an exciting future by canonizing Darth Plagueis in a second season that fans will now never see.

Nawood is similarly Force-sensitive to Qimir, although it is not clear what his modus operandi is yet. He was able to use the children's ship to help him escape and then his mutinous crew took revenge.

It's an unfortunate case of bad timing. Skeleton Crew actually started shooting in early September 2022, while The Acolyte started on October 30. Both twists make sense, but while Qimir was an out-and-out villain intent on turning Osha to the dark side, Jod Na Nawood can go the other way and become a sympathetic villain who turns his back on his piratical ways. After all Pirates of the Caribbean movies gave Jack Sparrow a heroic arc where he became a little less selfish.

Like any good thing Star Wars character, Law has teased that there are multiple layers to Nawood. Given how he's so prominent with the kids in the campaigns, he'll surely be a mentor to the group, like Obi-Wan was to Luke Skywalker. Given his Force-sensitive powers, he could also teach one or all of them the ways of the Force. Despite Skeleton Crew being its own project away from the typical Skywalker Saga, it just wouldn't be one Star Wars outing without a morally complex Jedi. Although Nawood is not a typical Jedi, the idea of ​​a pirate Jedi is a novel that would follow in the footsteps of The High Republic – The Blades Jedi Master Porter Engle.

Skeleton Crew debuted to an 83% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best reviewed Star Wars show from the Disney+ era. With audiences and critics alike praising this as a love letter to the Steven Spielberg films of the 80s, the focus is still very much on the younger set of heroes. The Shistavanen pirate Brutus and the rest of Captain Silvo's crew look to be the main villains who will chase the kids and Nawood across the galaxy, but whatever Law's force-sensitive prisoner is up to, he'll likely be a hero by the time the credits roll.