Skeleton Crew: Who does Alia Shawkat voice in the Star Wars series?

For the first few episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the audience is following a group of children who do realize that they have been kept a secret from the rest of the galaxy, until we all learn simultaneously through exposition delivered by a wise sage ‘Owl-like’ woman named Kh’ymm. But who is the actor behind the voice of this character?

Alia Shawkat joins Skeleton Crew as the voice of Kh'ymm

Kh'ymm is voiced by Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat. Her other work includes Drunk History, The Final Girls, and Scavengers Reign.

Our heroes have reached the point in their journey where they need a heading if they are ever going to make it home to At Attin, and the crew’s self-proclaimed fearless leader, Jod Na Nawood, leads them to his not-so-trustworthy ‘friend,’ Kh'ymm. He sets expectations by saying, “I don’t trust her, not 100%, in that she might stab us in the back," when it’s more likely he is projecting what it is in his nature to do and that Kh’ymm is merely anticipating his move early when she calls in some X-Wing support. Another clue that Jod might be more shady than the hopeful kids would like to believe is that Kh’ymm refers to him as "Crimson Jack," which, when you add that to the list along with Captain Silvo, starts to call into question this character’s reliability.

When the Skeleton Crew first arrives at Kh’ymm’s door (complete with TT-8L’s also found at Jabba’s palace), there is friendly banter back and forth but with hints of disdain not unlike the greetings between Han Solo and Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.  Inside, the owl-woman has a massive collection of ‘trinkets and tokens from 1000 different worlds.’ She seems concerned with the children pairing up with Crimson Jack but also appears intrigued at helping them locate their home of At Attin.

Kh’ymm reveals that though she has maps of all known stars and their accompanying hyperspace routes, there are nine planets of ‘wonders’ hidden for their protection and that At Attin is the sole survivor remaining. She says that their home planet of eternal treasure was from children’s stories and pirate’s shanties only to be believed by fools, yet she always believed. Kh’ymm also thinks it’s fascinating that the children know of Alderaan but have no knowledge of the wars (i.e., the original Star Wars trilogy) that have plagued the galaxy over the decades.

While learning of strange concepts such as ‘The Great Work’ and ‘The Barrier,’ Kh’ymm supposes that it is nebular gases hiding the planet from scans and begins to analyze a symbol found on Fern’s jacket.  When Jod asks if they’ve got it, Kh’ymm starts to stall, and Jod calls her out on it. As the crew begins to scatter, Kh’ymm cries out that Jack is a scoundrel, and she calls in the New Republic only to help.

One interesting detail about Kh’ymm’s character is that she briefly connected with KB, and perhaps, seeing as how they are both equipped with mods, they will be able to communicate with one another in some way when needed. Kh’ymm asks KB, “What are you going to do, go with Jack?” followed by supposing that he told them to “go with your gut." It is because of this interaction that KB stood her ground back at the ship and demanded Jod tell them the truth, or he would not come with them.

Alia Shawkat brings this mostly CGI-infused character of Kh’ymm to life and lets her spread her wings. I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of this character, as she could have more to offer the Skeleton Crew as the adventure continues. In a more traditional journey Kh’ymm may have been the character to guide the children to their final destination, but for this pirate-themed excursion, the kids are stuck with Jod Na Nawood for the foreseeable future.

Skeleton Crew is now available on Disney+.