It’s safe to say that all these years later, Jaleel White is still best known for his time as Steve Urkel (plus the character’s alter ego, Stefan, whom he was initially hesitant to play) on the sitcom Family Matters, but that’s by no means the means the only major credit on his resume. Along with having voiced Sonic the Hedgehog on TV from 1993-1999, he’s also popped on shows like Psych, NCIS, Drunk History and Fresh off the Boat, and Netflix subscribers even saw him star him opposite Adam Sandler last year in the movie Hustle. Now White has not only revealed he’ll be in a new Star Wars TV show, he also spilled when it’ll premiere.
Following Ashoka’s premiere to Disney+ subscribers sometime in August, Skeleton Crew is set to follow sometime before 2023 is over, and that’s where we’ll see Jaleel White lends his talents to a galaxy far, far away. The actor revealed this while he was being interviewed on Sportsnet during an Oilers game (via Twitter user @zjlaing), saying the following when he was asked what he has coming up:
I’m actually gonna be on a new series on Disney+ starring Jude Law called Skeleton Crew. Yeah, it’s coming out in November, November/December, and it’s part of the Star Wars universe. So that was a big change for me, man. I had to do two hours of makeup every day. I get to play a pirate.
Given how secretive Disney/Lucasfilm often is when it comes to upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows, either White was given the explicit go-ahead to share that he’s in Skeleton Crew, or he shared that information earlier than he was supposed to and may potentially get a stern message about that from either of those companies. Either way, the cat’s out of the bag, and now we know that he’ll be stopping by the Star Wars show that was officially announced to be starring Jude Law at 2022’s Star Wars Celebration.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is an Amblin-style project created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford that follows four kids who end up getting lost in the galaxy and have to find their way back to their homeworld. The exclusive footage presented at this year’s Star Wars Celebration identified Law’s character as a yet-to-be-named Jedi, but more importantly for this story, it showed the young protagonists fleeing from pirates in space, which would explain how Jaleel White factors in. Beyond that though, plot details remain scarce, including if/how it will tie into fellow shows set during the New Republic era like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, etc.
While we wait for more details on what to expect Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, including what pirates we’ll see causing trouble with Jaleel White’s alien character, remember that Disney+ is where you can easily stream the Star Wars movies in order alongside the platform’s TV offerings for the popular space opera franchise. If you’re now in the mood to revisit White’s days on Family Matters, that can be viewed with either an HBO Max subscription or a Hulu subscription.
