Fans were wildly mixed about the debut of a brand-new Star Wars character – Neel.

Star Wars Blue Elephant Neel

The new blue elephant Neel from Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is garnering mixed reactions from the Star Wars fan base.

The galaxy far, far away is about to deliver its first youth-centric project, highlighting a group of youngsters in the Star Wars universe who are thrown into a wild adventure. The story follows a handful of teenagers who find themselves lost in the cosmos and have to work together to find a way back home.

Alongside Marvel and Sherlock Holmes star Jude Law, the children in this series portray a wide range of beings, both human and alien. Part of that young group is Robert Timothy Smith’s Neel, a blue elephant-esque creature with a long trunk who is introduced minutes into Episode 1 alongside Ravi Cabot-Conners’ Wim.

Star Wars Debuts Another Blue Elephant In ‘Skeleton Crew’

Neel and Max Rebo blue elephants

Following the debut episodes of Skeleton Crew, the official Star Wars website confirmed new information about Robert Timothy Smith’s Neel.

In an interview with creator Jon Watts and co-creator Chris Ford, they did not specify Neel’s species but noted that he is different than another blue Star Wars character, Max Rebo. Rebo was famously in 1983’s Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as the long-trunked blue elephant-like being was seen in Jabba the Hutt’s lair.

This confirmation led to mixed reactions amongst the Star Wars fandom on X (formerly Twitter).

@Killdeerrr was relieved by this news, not wanting the “stupid gooney rip off elephant” being part of Max Rebo’s legacy in the Star Wars universe:

“good. i dont want this stupid gooney rip off elephant infringing on the legacy of star wars’ greatest background character max reebo”

@Tier1Diabetic was confused by the decision, asking why Star Wars did not “just make them an Ortolan,” the species Max Rebo belongs to:

“Legit question: why not? Why not just make them an Ortolan? Or better yet, why make them so similar but not the same instead of just making them a wholly more distinct species?”

@EuanPlush put it bluntly by saying that people who believed them to be the same species “are just dumb:”

“I’m just gonna come out and say it, the people who thought they were the same species are just dumb”

@EthanBenard was also wondering why the two characters are not from the same species, asking Star Wars what exactly it’s doing with the story:

“That doesn’t even make sense. What are they doing lmao”

Speaking with TVLine, Ford noted how the team behind the series dives directly into the question of Neel’s lineage:

“Obviously, we drive our car right into that controversy. We just went right in there and did it.”

Watts further explained that it may be considered profiling to assume they were from the same background, noting how the galaxy has “a lot of blue, trunked, elephant creatures.”

Ford then piggy-backed off that comment, explaining how there are “a lot of human-looking people that have no trunks” who come with different looks, leading to no questions whatsoever from viewers:

“There’s a lot of human-looking people that have no trunks that come in different colors and shapes, and we don’t blink our eye at that. So, it’s very human-centric to have a problem with this, I have to say.”

Who Is Neel in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew?

Warning – the rest of this article contains minor spoilers for Episodes 1 and 2 of Skeleton Crew.

As seen in the first pair of Skeleton Crew episodes, Neel is a fairly reserved child who enjoys having a good time with his friends and working hard for his future. While Wim is the far more adventurous of the pair of best friends, Neel prefers to keep his head down and not dive into anything truly dangerous.

That is not to say Neel is scared completely, as he still follows Wim into danger in the early episodes after Wim finds a Jedi temple when he misses his school exam.

Viewers see the young elephant desperate to get back home as he and his friends get lost both on their home planet and off-world. Now, the question is how the rest of his journey will go as he learns how dangerous the galaxy far, far away truly is.

The first two episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew are now streaming on Disney+.