Even though Skeleton Crew is technically a Mandoverse show, it was refreshing as a self-contained series that didn't really need anything else in the rest of the galaxy to tell its story. The opening crawl states this is set in the New Republic as a storytelling method to set up the mystery of At Attin. Outside of that, Skeleton Crew is very much its own thing without relying on the use of Easter eggs to tie it into the rest of Star Wars. And this was very much on purpose.
Setting down with TVLine, show creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford were asked about the lack of Easter eggs in the show. Was this a choice they made, or did Lucasfilm make them do this? Watts shared it was their choice, saying:
"We never wanted to do that, honestly — not because it wouldn’t have been awesome, but it starts to make the world feel really small when people keep running into the same people. Like, it’s a big galaxy and the the story that we were trying to tell is that — this is a big galaxy, the kids are overwhelmed, they don’t know anyone. It’s enough for them to see X-wings and not know what they are; that’s an Easter egg crossover for us. But because it starts small and secluded, in the future we could potentially… like, I’d love to see, “Where does Fern end up as she’s growing up, who does she meet?” I’d love to see Fern meet, I don’t know, Mon Mothma or something. That would be extremely cool. But we wanted to start small and and earn it on our own without leaning on anything like that. "Jon Watts
Ford added, "We were so focused on making just our story work, and then we were going to look back through it and see if there was a good place for anything, but it was like, 'Oh, I think we’ve got it.'" Watts ended, saying that no one from Lucasfilm made them cut out Easter eggs, that this was a choice they made themselves because, frankly, they didn't want them in the show.
And I love this. When it was announced, I was hoping that Skeleton Crew was going to be something different. I was a bit burned out on the Skywalker Saga and wanted to see something different from the Mandoverse. These shows often refer to each other so much in the form of Easter eggs that Watts is correct: It can make the world feel very small.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is my favorite film in the franchise. However, every single time they're on Jedha, I am taken out of the story when Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso bump into Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba. Because canonically speaking, they have to be off of that planet in the next 5 minutes to make it to A New Hope for Obi-Wan Kenobi to hack off Ponda's arm in the cantina. It makes the universe feel so small, especially when it's not serving the story. Evazan and Ponda don't do anything to change the narrative of Rogue One. They're there for the audience to point at and go, "It's those guys! Cool!" You can cut them, and nothing changes.
When Easter eggs are used to move the story forward, that's fine. It's still not my favorite as I'm not the biggest person about Easter eggs, but I can understand them from a narrative function. But there is a point where Easter eggs can be overused to a detriment. I firmly believe that stories should and need to be able to stand on their own. Skeleton Crew did that.
Not needing to know anything about the rest of Star Wars is one of the things that make Skeleton Crew shine. Someone who has never seen a Star Wars could watch it, which is a great way to bring more viewers into the franchise.