Spoilers for “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” episode 3 to observe.
A galaxy far, far-off has launched a model new assortment of characters with “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” one in every of whom solely simply made his debut on the finish of the second episode that premiered final week. Donning the basic apparel of a Jedi however feeling like something however is Jude Legislation because the mysterious Jod Na Nawood, who can also be going by the identify of Crimson Jack.
Touchdown someplace within the hyperspace between Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Captain Jack Sparrow, there’s clearly extra to Jod than meets the attention, significantly if the present’s occasions — coupled with “Skeleton Crew” toy packaging descriptions in the actual world — are something to go by. Firstly, there’s the truth that Jod/Jack seemingly used the Drive to get him and his new crew mates out of the slammer and away from hazard. Then there’s the Hasbro Pulse itemizing for the Jod Na Nawood 3.75-inch motion determine and the implications of his apparel (or lack thereof).
So, simply who is that this man and what sort of bother might he be getting our heroes into going ahead? Effectively, for this we have to get deep into Dagobah-level weeds and talk about a “Star Wars” character that was as soon as canon, stopped being so, and now would possibly simply be once more. Kinda.
Crimson Jack? Now, that is a reputation I’ve not heard in a very long time. A very long time.
The identify Crimson Jack has been floating across the galaxy ever since “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” first made its manner into theaters in 1977. Showing within the Marvel-published “Star Wars” comedian e-book collection and written by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, Jack was a longtime rival of our favourite scruffy-looking nerf herder, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and even stole the reward the smuggler and Chewbacca earned following the Battle of Yavin. From there, Jack despatched Han on his manner and the rival pirate took off in his annoyingly cool experience: his personal private Star Destroyer.
Cool experience or not, Jack and his adventures have been wiped from the continuity of “Star Wars” after the Expanded Universe was deemed not canon and renamed Star Wars Legends. That was till 2022, when in Ethan Sacks and Will Sliney’s “Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy,” Jack returned as a pirate captain as soon as once more, setting his sights on the eponymous vessel, the Halcyon. Nonetheless, each earlier iterations of Jack look extra like Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) from “Sport of Thrones” than Mr. Serviette Head from “The Vacation” (aka Legislation). To make issues much more sophisticated, Jack was reintroduced to the canon in a narrative that noticed him finishing up a mission for the First Order, which does not come into energy for years after the occasions of “Skeleton Crew” on the “Star Wars” timeline. So, what does this imply for Legislation’s “Jack,” and was the character impressed by a well-known basic literary determine?
Jod Na Nawood has a well-recognized streak of Silver
In addition to sharing the identify with the already established Crimson Jack, Legislation’s shifty stranger appears like a space-based versoin of Lengthy John Silver from “Treasure Island” (or “Treasure Planet” if you recognize your Disney). It is becoming, then, that, as is revealed throughout his rescue mission for SM-33 (Nick Frost), that his former crewmates tackle him as Captain Silver, identical to the character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s basic journey story.
Jod/Jack is already profitable over choose members of the Skeleton Crew on the collection, identical to Lengthy John Silver famously did with cabin boy, Jim Hawkins, although it does not imply he could be trusted. It is fairly seemingly that is all a ruse and that Jod/Jack is solely somebody who can faucet into the Drive relatively than a full-fledged Jedi (very like the boy with the broom in Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Final Jedi”). The one distinction is that this lawbreaker makes use of the Drive to his benefit, which could repay given the place Crimson Jack results in “Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy.”
Then once more, it is doable that is one other Jack altogether and that Jod actually is a Jedi. In that case, he could be however one of many survivors of Order 66 who took on a brand new identify and turned to a lifetime of crime after the Galactic Empire seized management of the galaxy. (Characters going by completely different identities, like Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi, is actually a well-established “Star Wars” trope.) For now, we’ll have to attend and see what’s in retailer for the present’s heroes.
New episodes of “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” premiere each Tuesday at 6 pm PST on Disney+.
