Yasmine Al Massri, a Palestinian-born actress who has appeared in the likes of Caramel, Quantico and The Strangers' Case, has revealed that she filmed at least one scene for the recent season finale of Skeleton Crew, but her character didn't make the cut.
If you've seen the episode you'll likely know who she would have played, but just in case, here's your spoiler warning.
It seems Al Massri was set to appear as the unnamed Jedi that takes a young Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law) under her wing shortly after the events of the Order 66 Purge detailed in Revenge of the Sith.
In "The Real Good Guys," Jod reveals his backstory to Wim, explaining that he was a starving and destitute child until a Jedi found him. She saw potential in Jod and began to teach him the ways of the Force, but was ultimately tracked down (presumably by The Empire's Inquisitors) and killed right in front of him.
"This was the shortest acting job I have done but the most meaningful to the child in me.. playing a Jedi for one scene in Skeleton Crew.. I gave a speech when the crew wrapped me on set saying : you just created the first Arab female Jedi.. thank you.. the scene unfortunately Didn’t make it to the finale cut bc these things happen.. but I can not not share my experience and feelings.. even Liam rehearsed that scene with me and I got to brag about it with his friends which got me coolest mom respect for a moment."
In a recent interview with EW, showrunners Jon Watts and Christopher Ford explained why they decided not to include the flashback.
“The challenge though was, as fascinating as Jod is, we always wanted to keep it from the kids’ perspective," said Ford. "The kids are like, ‘I don’t understand this guy.’ They’ve never been out in the galaxy and met someone as damaged as him. So I don’t think we could have done a flashback in this season.”
Watts added: “Yeah, not in this season. But what’s great about Star Wars is that you start talking about someone’s backstory and there’s already a history and allure that surrounds it. So you start getting excited about, ‘Oh, well, where do you place this person if it’s X amount of years ago into this larger galactic timeline?’ It’s just such a rich world that you can have so many variations and varieties of characters and backstories, and it’s just like limitless potential. It’s very fun.”
You can see Al Massri in full costume as the mysterious Jedi in the photos below.
Academy Award-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (The Daniels) directed episodes of the show, along Watts, Bryce Dallas Howard (The Mandalorian), Lee Isaac Chung (Twisters), David Lowery (The Green Knight) and Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*).
In addition to Law, the titular crew consists of Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Kyriana Kratter as KB, Robert Timothy Smith as Neel, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern.
"When four kids make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, they get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy," according to the show's official synopsis. "Finding their way home, meeting unlikely allies and enemies will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined."