Stranger Things Meets The Expanse In Disney+’s 8-Part Sci-Fi Series

As surprising as it may sound, one Star Wars spinoff series manages to mix the appeal of The Expanse and Stranger Things in the same show. While the Star Trek franchise might not be as active as it was a few years ago, when Picard, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and Discovery were all on the air, there can still be no doubt about the fact that the 2020s are becoming a golden era for space opera shows.

There is Apple TV’s ambitious replacement for The Expanse, Foundation, as well as the same streaming service’s For All Mankind and its spinoff, Star City. Meanwhile, Netflix’s massive hit Stranger Things proves that space opera isn’t the only sci-fi subgenre that is thriving in the 2020s, as the show’s unique blend of horror, small-town mystery, nostalgic coming of age dramedy, and sci-fi fantasy became a global sensation across its five seasons.

While Stranger Things spawned an animated spinoff, Tales from ’85, this did nothing to slow down the search for the next Stranger Things. Although Netflix itself offered viewers I Am Not Okay With This, Locke & Key, and Wednesday as potential replacements, while HBO Max had IT: Welcome to Derry, perhaps the most unexpected Stranger Things replacement came from Disney+, and more specifically, the Star Wars universe. Released in 2024, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew was a blend of Stranger Things and The Expanse that proved as fun as that combination sounds.

Skeleton Crew Mixes The Expanse’s Space Opera Setup With The ‘80s Nostalgia Of Stranger Things

Set shortly after the defeat of the Empire, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew focused on a quartet of kids from the planet At Attin who discover an abandoned spaceship and are whisked away on an intergalactic adventure with Jude Law’s pirate Force-user Joe Na Nawood. While the kids inevitably encounter some serious peril in their attempts to return home, their adventure remains a largely light-hearted one that makes for a massive tonal shift away from the franchise’s darker shows.

Heavily influenced by Stranger Things, which was itself influenced by its creators growing up watching the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew could have easily ended up feeling like a photocopy of a photocopy without much to recommend on its own merits. Fortunately, the show’s central kids are believable and their struggles are recognizable enough, despite coming from an alien planet, for viewers to see some of their younger selves in their story.

Skeleton Crew’s Stranger Things-Style Setup Is An ‘80s Kid’s Dream Come True

Matt Kennedy/©Disney+/Lucasfilm/Courtesy Everett Collection

Since the original Star Wars movies were always a favorite of young viewers, it is interesting to note that none of the franchise’s earlier outings had children as their heroes. Until Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the closest the series came to this was Anakin’s young self acting as one of the protagonists in The Phantom Menace, but his story was inevitably tinged with sadness since viewers knew how it would end.

In comparison, the upbeat adventure of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew season 1’s story feels like an Amblin movie set in the world of Star Wars, taking the kids’ adventure storyline of Explorers or The Goonies and transplanting it to an interstellar setting. While the show is nowhere near as dark or thematically dense as Prime Video’s SA Corey adaptation, the show’s jumps from planet to planet also call to mind the iconic space opera series The Expanse.

Ultimately, it is this balance of intimate character portraits and camaraderie borrowed from Stranger Things and intergalactic storytelling scope borrowed from The Expanse that makes this series stand out in the increasingly large Star Wars universe. Although Stranger Things and The Expanse make for unlikely bedfellows, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew proves that the pair make quite a memorable mix.

Release Date

2024 – 2025-00-00

Network

Disney+

Showrunner

Jon Watts, Christopher Ford

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