Skeleton Crew's Brutus Continues A Sad Star Wars Tradition

This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" episode 7, "We're Gonna Be In So Much Trouble."

"Skeleton Crew" is a huge breath of fresh air for the "Star Wars" franchise. The series is as far removed from "Andor" as you can get, showing the versatility of the galaxy far, far away to support all kinds of tones and stories. Though "Skeleton Crew" is full of terrifying moments and dark imagery, it is very much a coming-of-age adventure for audiences of all ages — not to mention a series that looks at a vast galaxy full of Jedi, X-Wings, and pirates with a sense of wonder that's been missing from the franchise since Luke Skywalker first stared at the binary sunset of Tatooine in "A New Hope."

One aspect where "Skeleton Crew" stands out compared to most "Star Wars" projects in recent years is how many non-human creatures are in the show. It's an unfortunate fact that even in the more fantastical stories and projects with the highest budgets, this franchise has always been rather human-centric. It makes sense in "Andor" due to the grounded tone of the seris, but the sequel trilogy and even "The Mandalorian" barely feature any non-human main characters. That's not the case with "Skeleton Crew," a show filled with wonderfully weird little guys, starting with the show's biggest scene-stealer: Neel the small blue elephant-looking guy. Though not related to Max Reebo at all, Neel is but one of many, many alien characters with stunning designs in the series (which includes everything from owl aliens to a giant individual that looks like Cthulhu).

Nowhere is the sheer imagination of "Skeleton Crew" more present than in the pirate crew that is after the show's young heroes, a group of creatures of all shapes and sizes led by the fearsome Brutus (voiced by Fred Tatasciore). From the moment he first appeared at the start of the first episode, Brutus left a striking impression ... which only makes his untimely death at the hands of the ruthless Jod Na Nawood/Silvo (Jude Law) in episode 7, "We're Gonna Be In So Much Trouble," that much more of a tragedy for the series. This is especially true because Brutus just joined a long tradition that harkens back to the original "Star Wars" trilogy — introducing cool characters that do absolutely nothing and then get killed pointlessly.

O Captain! My Wolf Captain! Brutus deserved better

Brutus is a stunning feat of character design. As a Shistavanen, he basically looks like a badass werewolf, his race having originated with a background character from the famous cantina sequence in "A New Hope" (which itself was basically just an off-the-shelf Halloween mask make-up effects legend Rick Baker used for that scene). Since "Skeleton Crew" only really shows the character in small doses and mostly in darkness, it's the combination of the wolf mask and the many guns strapped to his chest that do the heavy lifting for Brutus' design. Far from looking like an off-the-shelf Halloween mask, he appears to be a proper alien wolf pirate worthy of the cruelty the name Brutus inspires.

Still, the character of Brutus doesn't actually do a lot on "Skeleton Crew" and mostly exists to look cool as the leader of a ruthless band of pirates that pillages, plunders, and sings space pirate shanties. Otherwise, Brutus is not a very good villain; after all, he's outmaneuvered and outsmarted by a bunch of kids on several occasions before being mercilessly killed by his former captain while trapped under a crane.

That shouldn't really be a surprise, though. In fact, Brutus's character is part of a long-standing "Star Wars" practice where the franchise introduces a radically gnarly and intriguing character with a killer design, who then gets killed almost immediately without doing anything. I'm referring to characters like Boba Fett, Darth Maul, Captain Phasma, Grievous, and Dexter Jettster (come on, you know he most definitely bit the dust). Granted, some of these deaths were retconned later, but the point still stands, "Star Wars" is just as much about the heroes at the heart of its stories as it is about one-off characters who appear briefly, look awesome, then vamoose. 

In fact, in the same episode where Brutus is killed, his successor seems to have shown up. I'm talking about Neel's dad, Nol, one of the hottest new "Star Wars" characters in years (Qimir notwithstanding), with those massive tusks and his loving family. If he gets killed, we riot.

The "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" season 1 finale drops January 14, 2025, at 6pm PST on Disney+.