The Andor Skeleton Crew link is an interesting Star Wars mystery

Contains the following mild spoilers for Star Wars: The Crew of Skeletons.

The Star Wars Easter Egg Industrial Complex is alive and well in Skeleton Crew, the franchise’s latest TV installment on Disney+. Whether it’s old Republic “daters” Wim (Ravey Cabot-Conyers) who pours blue milk into his morning cereal, or Port Borg pirates with Clan Hut tattoos, if you’re the kind of fan who has every galactic encyclopedia on his bookshelf shelves, there’s plenty to keep your eyes and ears on, including allusions to some planets from previous Star Wars stories.

U Star Wars: The Crew of Skeletons episode 2, “The Way Beyond the Barrier,” as the kids try to get SM-33 (Nick Frost) to return them to their home planet of Attin, we get a particularly interesting easter egg. Since Attin, we later learn, is essentially a myth and does not appear on any regular star chart, SM-33 begins listing similar-sounding planets in hopes of being helpful. These include Atholon, a remote world where one of the first major battles between the Rebellion and the Empire took place (as seen in Star Wars Rebels), and Aldani, the location of the Imperial payroll robbery from the second arc of “Andor” Season 1.

It’s interesting that SM-33 refers to Aldani as a “sulfur swamp world”, while in “Andorra” it is depicted quite differently. Episodes of Aldani’s “Andorra” were filmed in the Scottish Highlandsand what we see of the planet is lovely and green, full of winding rivers, hills, green fields and herds of shepherds. So why does the pirate droid seem like it’s actually some inhospitable swamp planet?

It is possible that SM-33’s mischaracterization of Aldhani is merely the result of a malfunction. He’s clearly not the most stable droid in the galaxy, and the series is keen to show us the many ways he’s deteriorated over the years buried on Attina. It’s also possible that some other part of Aldani is quite swampy, although the use of the word “sulphurous” in SM-33 suggests atmospheric conditions that would likely make the entire world uninhabitable.

A third, more interesting option is that SM-33—and by extension his ship—is so old that its memory banks remember a much older Aldani when the planet’s landscape looked very different. Of course, that would then raise the new question of how he also knows about Port Borg, which appears to be exactly the same as it was the last time SM-33 was there.

In short, it’s a mystery, but a fun one. For now Skeleton Crew and Andor are very different Star Wars shows.they both succeeded in bringing a different energy to the franchise than what was usually seen on the big screen or in other series like The Mandalorian. It’s nice to see one reference the other, even if it’s just in the throw line. And if you’re obsessed with Andor like me, any mention of Aldani will make you think of the theft from The Eye, one of the greatest Star Wars hours we’ve ever gotten. So thanks for that, “Skeleton Crew”.

New episodes of Star Wars: The Crew premiere Tuesday at 6pm PST on Disney+.