Recap - "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" Stars Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Robert Timothy Smith Appear at WonderCon 2025
This past Saturday morning at WonderCon 2025 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew stars Ravi Cabot-Conyers (who played the character of Wim) and Robert Timothy Smith (Neel) participated in a panel discussion of their experience on the show. Below is my brief recap of the panel with some photos and a bit of video along with it.
Moderator Carly King started off the panel by asking actors Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Robert Timothy Smith to talk about the audition and casting process for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Cabot-Conyers was quick to point out that he was wearing a “Grammar Rodeo" t-shirt, which is a reference to the working title of the series lifted from a classic seventh-season episode of The Simpsons. The two boys then got into what it was like working on set and how the presence of Jawas and physical droid puppets like SM-33 helped immerse them in the Star Wars galaxy. During the chat, Smith kept joking that Star Wars fans would be angry at him for forgetting what certain things were called in Star Wars lore, such as speeder bikes. Comparing themselves to their characters, Smith said, “I’m a little bit more brave than Neel. I want to skydive when I’m 18." They both also talked about how much they have enjoyed meeting and interacting with fans at events like this.
When asked if they were allowed to keep any souvenirs from the Skeleton Crew set, Robert said that he has one of the Republic credits, while Ravi was gifted the actual lightsaber prop from the show. Then as a surprise, the boys were presented with two of the walkie-talkies from Skeleton Crew, which they used to recreate one of the early scenes in which Wim and Neel come up with their secret code names. Then King introduced a game called “Who knows their best friend better?" which worked kind of like Match Game. A tie was settled by another really fun scene re-creation, in which Cabot-Conyers and Smith got to reenact their famous “play" lightsaber duel from the first episode. You can see video of both of these moments embedded below.
Watch "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" stars Ravi Cabot-Conyers and Robert Timothy Smith at WonderCon 2025:
Then it became time to take questions from fans in the audience, including what it was like working with actor Jude Law. Conversation also turned to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland (because some of the sound effects from that ride were recycled in the series) and Robert mentioned that he loves how it smells. Ravi’s mom also had the opportunity to ask a question about how Skeleton Crew creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford came up with the names for the main characters– apparently “Neel!" was being shouted over and over again in a hotel that Watts was staying at, and he liked Wim because it was the same upside-down; KB was named after the toy store, as we’ve noted previously, and Fern was a name that Ford wanted to give his daughter though it was rejected by his wife.
Ravi talked about doing some of his own stunts like rolling down a hill on At-Attin, and Robert explained how the Neel costume worked on set– but not until after explaining how he recently hurt his finger by being kicked by a bully. One of my favorite things about the panel was how the kids kept getting really excited and saying “strap in" or “everybody buckle in" before their answers. It was clear they really enjoyed being there and that a genuine friendship had formed between them during production and in the aftermath of shooting the series. I will also say that I’ve sat through quite a few comic convention panels in my day, and this was one of the more entertaining examples because of the infectious enthusiasm of these two young actors. I really hope they get to work together again– maybe even on a second season of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
I also wanted to mention that Robert Timothy Smith (who recently starred in Dear Santa with Jack Black) and Ravi Cabot-Conyers (voice of Antonio from Disney’s Encanto) had a booth during Friday and Saturday at WonderCon, where they were available for photos and autograph sessions with fans.
The full first season of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is available to stream exclusively on Disney+.