We talk about this often at Last Movie Outpost, and elsewhere online. It really is hard to wrap your head around just what a monumental clusterfuck Lucasfilm has made of Star Wars since the Disney acquisition. Almost every single decision has been the wrong one. The few bright spots, such as Andor and early The Mandalorian, seemingly come as a result of creatives with enough clout to completely ignore whatever bullshit idiocy flows from Lucasfilm and forge their own path.
Skeleton Crew was one of those. Multi-billion-dollar Spider-Man success with the MCU gave Jon Watts the headroom he needed to deliver exactly what he planned. A Spielberg adventure, an Amblin movie set in the Star Wars universe.
He succeeded. I liked Skeleton Crew. As I said in my review, it succeeded exactly in what it set out to do, be a fun, child-centric adventure coloring within the Star Wars lines. It really is The Goonies in Space.
Unfortunately, it seems like the developing stank that surrounds modern Star Wars might have done for Skeleton Crew, undeservedly.
According to Nielsen’s streaming data, the series experienced the lowest viewership of any Star Wars series during its debut week. The double header opening two-parter pulled in 382 million minutes watched between both episodes. This was 20% lower than The Acolyte, the show which is starting to look like it might have put the final nail in the Star Wars coffin for now on Disney+. The third episode didn’t make the Nielsen Top 10.
The enthusiasm for Star Wars has drained away just as something of worth arrived.
Watts had previously said that the series was made to stand alone as one season, but be able to have a second season if Disney wanted one.
“Yeah, we wanted to make sure this season had a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. But, if people want to see more Skeleton Crew, we’d be happy to make more.
It’s exciting to think about. We’ve mainly been focused on telling this story, but there’s always a chance that they [the kids] could meet some surprising people in the future.”
Despite positive reviews, it doesn’t look like Skeleton Crew will get a chance to return.