‘Skeleton Crew’ Creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford Detail What Fans Can Expect From Episode 4 and Beyond

Buckle up, Skeleton Crew fans, it’s about to get bumpy.

After Episode 3 (“Very Interesting, As An Astrogration Problem”) premiered on Disney+ Tuesday evening and revealed that Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law) may not be as trustworthy as originally believed, the show’s co-creators, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, say that things are only going to get more hairy for the four young protagonists who are lost in space.

“The kids get into deeper and deeper trouble over the course of the season, that’s for sure,” Watts joked while chatting about the Star Wars series with Decider.

In the latest episode, Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith, and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) are assisted by Law’s character — who may or may not be a Jedi but definitely doesn’t want us to know if he is — in their goal to return to their planet of At Attin. The problem here is that their home, referred to in this episode as a “jewel” of the Old Republic, has seemingly been wiped from maps. As you can understand, this makes it really hard for anyone, especially children, to figure out how to navigate through the galaxy properly. But boy does it make for an entertaining series — one that we believe is re-establishing Star Wars as a nostalgic and family-friendly franchise.

Watts and Ford — who previously worked together on Spider-Man: Homecoming — told Decider that, in a way, they took a sadistic level of pleasure in writing the show so that the kids would face a whole lot of issues along their quest. Issues like space pirates, unfair imprisonment, and the biggest struggle of them all, discerning who is a friend from who is a foe.

“One of the challenges — and what was exciting in writing the story — is that the kids are really overwhelmed,” shared Ford as Watts added, “We were constantly trying to put the kids in situations that would be really, really difficult for them to get out of.”

So far, it’s working for the show. While other series within the Star Wars franchise including Andor, The Mandalorian, and The Acolyte have featured adult characters facing adult problems — a whole rebellion in Andor‘s case — Skeleton Crew seems to be thriving by forcing the youngsters to band together and exercise wisdom beyond their years.

Watts and Ford say that for them, that’s where the beauty of the show resides. In telling the story of four kids who have to face some silly (and some scary) obstacles, it becomes a show about growing up and figuring out how to make it in the world, with or without help. For that reason, writing the script gave the co-creators the opportunity to create a “puzzle” that families can enjoy together and children can marvel at.

“If Han Solo or someone was in this situation, they would just deal with it. It’d be a really short show,” said Ford as his co-creator laughed in response. “The kids have a really hard time. It was almost like a puzzle for how could actual kids who don’t have superpowers get out of these situations and save themselves and survive.”

As for what can be expected in episodes to come, Watts and Ford decided to keep their lips zipped on actual plot details but have teased more epic (and challenging) sidequests for Fern, KB, Wim, and Neel. And don’t even ask about Jod — aka Captain Silvo, aka Crimson Jack — because they aren’t spoiling anything.

“It just gets more and more intense,” Ford stated, playing coy.

Fans will have to stick around to find out who Jod really is, how the kids make it back to At Attin — if they do, that is — and why no one seems to know about their planet in the vast galaxy.

The first three episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are now streaming on Disney+. New episodes release Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.