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+.
