'Skeleton Crew' Breakdown: What Is Port Borgo?

Star Wars

Dec 20

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew focused much of its marketing on the pirate aspect of the show, and after four episodes, it seems clear that they will serve as the main villains for the rest of the season. The base of operations for this particular band of pirates is Port Borgo, a den of scum and villainy, putting Mos Eisley in A New Hope to shame. However, Starport Borgo is more than just some pirate den. It has a history in Star Wars Legends, which might also inform the canon and future events of the Mandoverse. So, join CultureSlate today for a dive into this pirate-filled port!

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

The Legend Of Borgo Prime

Port Borgo is a clear reference to the asteroid space station Borgo Prime, which first appeared in the Young Jedi Knights series of books released in the mid to late 1990s. Its first appearance, in Shadow Academy, showed Borgo as an asteroid port populated by criminals, traders, and travelers. A series of bribes quickly helped Luke Skywalker obtain the information he needed, and the location was left behind for Dathomir. Borgo Prime would appear in subsequent novels in the series, but it was also mentioned in 1997’s Specter of the Past, the first novel of the Hand of Thrawn Duology, where it was noted as a center of finances for the remnants of the Empire.

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Next Stop, Starport Borgo

Star Wars canon included a mention of Port Borgo several years ago as part of material authored in-universe by former pirate queen Maz Kanata that noted the port's location. It could have once been easily overlooked as the result of canon borrowing small details from Legends in innocent places that made sense. But, Skeleton Crew has made significant use of the location as part of canon, drawing from the Legends source material and what was previously established in the Mandalorian to create a stunning setting for Episodes 2 and 3 of the show.

Port Borgo is built into an asteroid, just as it was in Legends. It features an extensive berthing area for spaceships, many bearing the same striped livery on their hulls as Gorian Shard’s ship did in Season 3 of The Mandalorian. The opening modified version of the Star Wars crawl in Skeleton Crew seems to imply that this striping represents a warning of “Surrender or die” and the high number of vessels with this feature shows just how powerful pirates are in this era of Star Wars.

Dinghies transport the crews of these ships to the asteroid itself and the sprawling marketplace within. Despite the high number of pirates, we can suspect that legitimate businesses are operating in the port, some less savory than others, though certainly still legitimate. After all, pirates need to eat, sleep, and even accessorize with tattoos, pets, or additions to their combat toolkits, and we can see merchants offering these goods and services. Borgo is also full of alien species, dozens by the count of one X account that specializes in IDing the aliens of Star Wars, showing the diversity of people attracted to the port.

Then, there are the chambers and spaces hidden away in the lower depths of the asteroid rock itself. Below the market lies the brig, a sprawling prison complex with multiple cells holding prisoners and misbehaving pirates. But it would also appear that there is a droid storage area or repair bay, operated at least at the start of Episode 3 by an Ishi Tib pirate named Benjar Pranic. One final note about Port Borgo is that it appears to be very much dominated by pirates, as opposed to its Legends counterpart, which had a more varied clientele. As mentioned earlier, while we can assume that the port does have legitimate businesses, it seems clear that Borgo is pirate-first, everyone else second, in terms of who it currently caters to.

Pirates And The Mandoverse

What does Port Borgo mean for Star Wars and especially the Mandoverse beyond a fairly obscure reference to a series of books three decades old? This author thinks that Borgo and its pirate horde are going to remain significant after Skeleton Crew for one key reason: location. Borgo is located along the Hydian Way, in the galactic north, and is very close to Mandalorian space.

Location of Port Borgo — Image Source: Wookieepedia

While this location's position in the galaxy may change in reference or publishing material down the line, this information, when paired with what has been seen so far into the Mandoverse and what was written about the port in Legends, combine to create a compelling theory: that pirates will continue to play a major role in the defeated Empire’s efforts to thwart the New Republic and burgeoning Mandalorian revival. Borgo, as a den of piracy located both along a notable hyperspace lane and in such proximity to Mandalore, is the perfect site for the Imperial Remnant to cut a deal with brigands to target Imperial enemies undercover as mere raids for revenge and opportunity. The link between the spaceport and the Remnant already existed in Legends, so why not bring it into canon?

But, to explore further, as Skeleton Crew stated at the start of Episode 1, piracy has begun to eat away at the edges of New Republic-controlled commerce. Given enough resources and time, these forces will be able to further destabilize the New Republic, likely directly aided by the mysterious members of the Shadow Council who openly spoke of raiding the hyperspace trade lanes in Mandalorian Season 3. But we also saw the Mandalorians play a role in the death of Pirate King Gorian Shard in Season 3. Pirates focusing on raids and attacks on Mandalorian space can be easily written off by the wider galaxy as revenge strikes for the killing of such a notable pirate leader, even if the big green captain hasn’t been mentioned yet in Skeleton Crew.

Conclusion

But we aren’t done with the show just yet, and this theory-crafting might be for naught. While demonstrating that pirates are a threat to the New Republic and are probably being backed by hidden Imperials would certainly reinforce the narrative in this era, we could also easily see a reversal of such a trend as a result of Borgo’s pirates getting caught up in pursuit of At Attin. Already, we have seen New Republic forces clashing or encountering these pirates in trailers for the show, and it would be a welcome change of pace to show the New Republic getting the upper hand over such a threat. It may also be that the quest for At Attin will destroy the pirates from within, over greed and a lack of trust. We will have to wait and see how Port Borgo will factor into the future episodes of Skeleton Crew and the Mandoverse as a whole!

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