Star Wars’ new trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: Skeleton Crew series is packed full of subtle hat-tips to other Star Wars projects, but one Easter egg in particular pays tribute to one of George Lucas’ unique projects: Michael Jackson’s Captain EO. The premise of Skeleton Crew is heavily rooted in the coming-of-age stories often brought to life during the 1980s, particularly The Goonies and other Amblin Entertainment projects. This has given Skeleton Crew itself quite a bit of ’80s influence, something Star Wars is really digging into by paying tribute to one of Lucas’ most surprising projects.

Lucas was an executive producer on and helped to write the story for Captain EO, the short film starring Michael Jackson that was created for a 3D viewing attraction at Disney Parks in 1986. Though directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the sci-fi feel of this musical film naturally embodied some familiar elements of Star Wars. It has, however, faded somewhat into the background of pop culture due to it no longer being present at Disney Parks – but Skeleton Crew is bringing it back in a major way. Now, a key element of Captain EO has become Star Wars canon.

Captain EO’s Fuzzball Appears In The Skeleton Crew Trailer

Fuzzball is Just One of Several Hat-Tips to Captain EO

Image via Disney+

The trailer for Skeleton Crew provides a quick glimpse at a flying creature trapped inside a cage that’s unmistakably Fuzzball from Captain EO. Fuzzball is the titular Captain EO’s sidekick, a member of EO’s ragtag crew that travels with him to transform The Supreme Leader back to her true self and, as a result, save their galaxy. The creature is instrumental in Captain EO’s mission and proves himself to be a formidable right-hand to his captain. Now, Fuzzball has officially entered Star Wars canon, with a creature of his species having been glimpsed in the Skeleton Crew trailer.

This, however, isn’t the only hat-tip to Lucas’ Captain EO. The Skeleton Crew character Neel himself looks almost like a blend between Star Wars’ Max Rebo and Captain EO‘s Hooter, both of whom are known for their percussive talent. The design of the droid SM-33 in Skeleton Crew matches with the design of one in Captain EO, with both their left legs being a simple rod instead of matching the fully built leg on their right side. Some are even drawing comparisons between Ravi Cabot-Conyers’ Wim and Captain EO himself, as the two of them are certainly big dreamers.

Captain EO Has Always Felt Like Star Wars: The Musical

This Skeleton Crew Tribute Just Makes Sense

Image via D23

Captain EO is the perfect Lucasfilm project for Skeleton Crew to be paying tribute to, seeing as Captain EO has always felt like a Star Wars musical. Jackson made it clear in his lifetime that he was a big fan of Star Wars, with Jackson nearly playing Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and that surely factored into his performance as Captain EO. Seeing as Lucas had just finished the original Star Wars trilogy when Captain EO was being written and produced, it also makes sense that it contains some of his sci-fi flair.

Even more meaningful is the deeper meaning behind Skeleton Crew paying tribute to Captain EO. The latter was one of the first joint projects, if not the first, between Disney and Lucasfilm. Disney would, of course, go on to buy Lucasfilm in 2012, making Skeleton Crew and all other Star Wars projects released in the last 10 years joint productions between the two companies. Captain EO was certainly the first visual project in this storied history between the two companies, making Skeleton Crew‘s tribute to it all the more rewarding.