When Skeleton Crew premieres in two weeks, we’ll be introduced to Jod Na Nawood, a mysterious figure played by Jude Law who befriends the group of kids lost in the galaxy.
Based on the footage we have seen, Nawood promises to help the kids get home, but the more we’ve seen, the more suspect it seems. For one, the kids seem to suspect him of being a Jedi, but in one of the recent clips, as they insist (perhaps distrustingly) that he is, he simply says, “of course” in a less-than-convincing way. Almost certainly, then, he’s not a Jedi, but only pretending to be one.
In a StarWars.com interview, Jude Law said: “Conflicted is certainly a word I’d use to describe Jod. Honestly, what inspired me most about playing Jod was the playfulness of those first three films, the heroes at the heart of those films and the way they perceived the galaxy. Ultimately, [Jod is] a survivor.” A Jedi survivor, or something else? That remains to be seen, but the key word here, I think, is conflicted. It appears that not all will be as it seems with him.
That’s reinforced by the fact that the trailer for the series shows the kids apparently having stumbled upon quite a bit of wealth, which leads to an apparently significant ancient treasure. If Nawood finds out about that, he could help the kids with the motivation of actually getting that treasure. This series is, after all, including pirates and influenced by them.
Furthermore, in the director’s roundtable discussion that Star Wars released, showrunner Jon Watts mentioned that as kids all adults seem trustworthy, but then you come to realize that they actually all aren’t. Very interesting, given that we know Nawood is the prime adult figure who befriends the friends.
All of which leads me to think that there’s a lot more than meets the eye with Jod Na Nawood. My theory is that he’s not a Jedi, but the kids come to believe that he is. He initially appears to help them, but it will be revealed that he’s actually in it for the treasure, not to help the kids. Given the nature of this series, and the Star Wars franchise, however, he’ll probably have a change of heart and turn out to be quite heroic in the end. That’s just a guess, but it seems to all be hinting toward it.
If that is the case, then I could see Jod’s character being a kind of Long John Silver figure. This is a show heavily influenced by pirates, after all, with gangs of pirates hunting the kids, a treasure hunt, and the ship’s first mate being named SM-33 (“Smee”, for those wondering). Long John Silver was introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous Treasure Island as a pirate who is quite conflicted, double-crosses, but has some noble heart nonetheless. Perhaps that will be an inspiration of sorts for Jod Na Nawood in Skeleton Crew.
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