Star Wars Is Sending Urkel To Space
Jaleel White into a galaxy far, far away? You bet. Star Wars has become something of a beleaguered franchise, one whose most recent films and series have sucked worse than Luke Skywalker’s haircut in Return of the Jedi.
However, many fans are hopeful that the upcoming Skeleton Crew show (which has largely been shrouded in mystery) might bring some of the magic back to a galaxy far, far away.
Now, we have one more surprising reason to be hyped: this upcoming Star Wars series is going to be sending Jaleel White (best known for playing Urkel on the hit ‘90s sitcom Family Matters) into space.
Jaleel White In Skeleton Crew
This information comes to us courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, which recently got exclusive photos revealing new details about Skeleton Crew.
One of those images shows a group of space pirates including someone who will be very familiar to audiences who grew up saying the famous Urkel catchphrase, “Did I do that?”
Amid a crew of Star Wars spacers which is largely comprised of colorful aliens, you can clearly see Jaleel White, complete with a cool sci-fi outfit that even has its own futuristic eyepiece.
Jaleel White A Cyborg?
Some Star Wars fans have said that Jaleel White’s Gunter character looks a bit like a cyborg, which may not be much of a stretch for the performer after he played the metallic Urkelbot on Family Matters.
To his left is the alien Vane, the memorable nemesis of The Mandalorian characters Din Djarin and Greef Karga. Aside from the fact that they look pretty cool, we don’t know anything about the other pirates except for their names: Brutus (the wolfman to White’s right), Pax (on the far right), and Chaelt (on the far left).
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
As veteran Star Wars fans ourselves, we’re happy to see the talented Jaleel White added to the series, but what’s up with the show’s focus on pirates in the first place?
This is mostly due to Skeleton Crew’s setting: the show takes place in the same post-Return of the Jedi, pre-The Force Awakens time period as shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.
During this time, the Empire has been reduced to a remnant of its former glory, and the lack of both Palpatine and his fascist new order has led to a renaissance of space piracy.
Skeleton Crew And Pirates?
According to Skeleton Crew co-creator Christopher Ford, these pirates are meant to be a live-action payoff to something that we’ve only seen in dribs and drabs throughout the franchise.
For example, we see pirates in shows like Clone Wars and The Mandalorian, but we haven’t yet gotten a great idea of why Han Solo was so offended to be labeled “pirate.”
This new Star Wars group of pirates (including Jaleel White) may shine some light on that, and Ford notes that “Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau were really excited to do more pirate stuff.”
Jaleel White The Perfect Fit?
Don’t expect their portrayal to be too grim, though: Skeleton Crew co-creator Jon Watts claims the portrayal will be “somewhere between Star Wars pirates and Monkey Island pirates,” the latter referencing the classic LucasArts point-and-click adventure game.
That game had a very quirky sense of humor, and that might explain why the new Star Wars show brought in Jaleel White, someone who became famous for regularly making Family Matters fans laugh each week.
If he can do what Lando Calrissian star Donald Glover recently encouraged–namely, bring fun back to the franchise–then this latest show might be able to succeed where The Acolyte failed.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
