Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is taking viewers on an adventure, one that is surrounded by various little mysteries. The show’s young main characters are from a mysterious world known as At Attin, one that everyone they encounter thinks is a legendary world of treasure. They find themselves in a galaxy unlike anything they’ve ever encountered before, and their only guide is an enigma named Jod Na Nawood, played by Jude Law. When Wim, Neel, KB, and Fern first meet him in Port Borgo’s brig, he apparently uses the Force. This leads Wim to believe he’s a Jedi, trusting him immediately.
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However, the series’ third episode reveals that trusting Jod may be a mistake. Jod is well-known on Borgo, called Silvo by the pirates there when it’s revealed that he escaped with the children. After leaving the Port, he takes the children to Kh’ymm, an owl-like alien with maps from all over the galaxy. She calls him Crimson Jack, calls the New Republic on him, and tells KB not to trust him. The show is definitely making viewers think about who Jod is and whether he’s actually a Jedi or a shady pirate, one looking to trick the children and make a big score. Looking at the show, there are several clues to his identity.
Jod Definitely Has Force Powers but That Doesn’t Make Him a Jedi
Jod’s Force powers are hard to deny. He telekinetically grabs the keys to the cell he and the children are in at the end of episode 2. Telekinesis is a Force power and while episode 3 of Skeleton Crew has Fern list off other ways he could have pulled the feat off using technology, there’s no indication that he has any tech on him and it’s doubtful that the pirates would have put him in the cell with any kind of tech that he could use to escape. Now, obviously, this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, but later in episode 3 he also pulls off a Force feat Star Wars fans have seen before. In order to distract the guards so KB can run across a corridor, he gestures down the hall, making a noise that the guards notice. This is similar to something that Obi-Wan Kenobi did in A New Hope when he was trying to get to the tractor-beam generator. Unlike the last time, he doesn’t grab or throw anything, but seemingly uses the Force to hit something, just like Obi-Wan did.
Another indication of his Force powers comes in the escape as well, when he’s able to sense when guards are coming before they come. He also tells the children that in one direction there are lots of people and in the other, it’s empty, reinforcing that he’s sensing the presence of others. Again, this could just come from him knowing the guards’ routes and his way around Port Borgo – he’s almost certainly the pirate captain that is mutinied against at the beginning of the first episode – but this does point to him knowing how to use the Force.
In the episode, Jod also denies being a Jedi and this is probably true. Jod is old enough to have been around in the pre-Empire days of the Republic. There’s a very good chance that he was a Padawan who survived Order 66. Perhaps his answering that he wasn’t a Jedi is technically correct – as a Padawan, he never graduated to full Jedi. However, this would give him a similar backstory to Rebels’ Kanaan Jarrus, another Padawan who escaped Order 66 and disappeared into the world of scoundrels and pirates. Would Lucasfilm create two characters with such similar pasts? Maybe, but it would be better if Jod was just a Force-sensitive, maybe one from a non-Jedi Force-using sect. This would make more sense and make the story better.
Related: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Drops Another Hilarious Phantom Menace Easter Egg
The Crimson Jack Puzzle
Kh’ymm calling Jod Crimson Jack brings up the mystery of who or what Crimson Jack is. Crimson Jack was a Legends character who appeared in the old Marvel Star Wars comic, where he was a pirate. Crimson Jack would later appear in canon, in the series Halcyon Legacy, a comic that contains the backstory of the Halcyon, the setting for Disney’s defunct Galactic Starcruiser hotel. This story was set during the Sequel Era, decades after Skeleton Crew. There’s no way Jod could be the Crimson Jack of that story, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t Crimson Jack.
It seems that the New Republic knows who Crimson Jack is – that’s the name Kh’ymm tells the New Republic fighter pilots when she calls them. Crimson Jack is likely an alias that Jod has used during his years as a pirate, one that he made famous enough that a pirate decades later would use it to engender fear and respect in his fellows. Or, and this is even more fun, Crimson Jack is a name passed down by pirates through the generations. Jod may be the current Crimson Jack and years later the pirate in Halcyon Legacy takes up the name. He even could have been passed the name by Jod.
Jod Is a Force Sensitive Pirate but Probably Not a Jedi
Skeleton Crew has done a good job of presenting intriguing mysteries for viewers and Jod Na Nawood is one of the juiciest. Looking at the evidence from the three episodes so far, it looks like Jod is a Force-sensitive pirate, one who has used the name Crimson Jack and is more than likely the masked pirate captain from the first episode that Brutus and crew mutinee against, but not a Jedi. While Lucasfilm has shown no issue with repeating themselves when it comes to characters, making Jod into Kanaan Jarrus 2.0, this time with more scoundrel in him, seems to be a road too far.
There’s a chance that he is actually a Jedi, of course, but it would make the story much better if he wasn’t. Canon has seen very few unaffiliated Force users, something that Legends had way more of, and it would be much cooler if Jod was either from another Force-using tradition or self-trained, having mastered a few Force tricks to get by. As with everything about Skeleton Crew, there’s definitely more going on with Jod, his powers, and the mantle of Crimson Jack than meets the eye.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew airs every Tuesday at 9PM EST/6 PM PT.