Star Wars is in its Sith era. After revealing so much about Palpatine’s plans in the sequel trilogy, the story keeps getting drawn to the Dark Side of the Force, most recently with The Acolyte. The next live-action series, Skeleton Crew, seemed like it would change that with a family-friendly adventure centered around children, but now a new promo image suggests this series will be just as tied up in Dark Side lore as its predecessors.
The latest issue of Empire Magazine contains new images from Skeleton Crew, including one of Jod Na Nawood, the adult lead played by Jude Law, as he appears to translate a language written on a wall. It’s not just any language, however, but ur-Kittât, the runic text of the Sith. The language originated in the non-canon Tales of the Jedi comic books, but has since appeared in canonical shows like The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka.
The Sith species spoke the language, but as they evolved into the Sith Order, the language evolved too. The language was forbidden after the rise of the Galactic Republic and was thought to be eradicated, but it thrived in secret. Emperor Palpatine spoke it and taught it to Darth Vader, to name just two practitioners.
Ur-Kittât has appeared in Star Wars before, but its appearance in Skeleton Crew is especially interesting. It looks like Jod Na Nawood, who’s only been described as a “Force-user,” can understand it, which means he’s either involved with the Sith somehow or just really into defunct languages with sinister connotations.
Perhaps Nawood is a reformed Sith who’s put the Dark Side behind him and is using the Force outside of an established order, like Ahsoka did after she left the Jedi. If so, that makes his relationship with the rest of the main cast of Skeleton Crew — a bunch of children — all the more interesting. What makes him get involved with them, and could we see his dark past come back to haunt him? We can only speculate, but it looks like Skeleton Crew won’t be the standalone story we first thought it would be.
Skeleton Crew premieres December 3, 2024 on Disney+.
