Snowball
Snowball, identifiable by its four eyes, was a bilge rat that had made its home within the droid designated SM-33. Around the time of 9 ABY, the younglings named Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB stumbled upon the starship named Onyx Cinder which was buried on the planet called At Attin. Neel, while inside the ship, was inspecting the deactivated SM-33 when Snowball suddenly emerged from the droid's empty eye socket, giving him quite a surprise. Later on, after the vessel had engaged in a hyperspace jump and SM-33 was once again operational, Snowball darted across the ship's control panel and then leaped onto Neel just as the droid was in the process of searching its memory bank for the location of At Attin. Since the droid couldn't recall the location, it instead took them to the spaceport at Port Borgo. It was at this location that SM-33 was struck by an ion rifle while trying to protect the children from pirates, resulting in both the children and Snowball being confined to the port's brig. Neel attempted to teach Snowball to grab the cell's key but, upon reaching it, the rat chose to run off in a different direction instead.
The pirate known as Jod Na Nawood soon assisted the children in their escape, and they then managed to persuade him to go back for SM-33 and Snowball. Na Nawood was successful in rescuing the droid and bringing both of them back to the Onyx Cinder. Once aboard the starship, the children ate some porridge, and Neel shared some with Snowball. Later, as the crew were en route to the planet Lanupa, Snowball took the opportunity to stretch. After the children had pinpointed At Attin's location, Snowball observed as the Onyx Cinder drew closer to the planet. Following SM-33's decapitation at the hands of Na Nawood, who had betrayed the children, Snowball emerged from the droid's head only to be kicked by the pirate. The bilge rat then responded by screeching at the pirate. Shortly thereafter, as KB was piloting the Onyx Cinder past the Barrier that surrounded At Attin, Snowball climbed onto her head. While KB was in communication with the astronomer named Kh'ymm via a hologram, Snowball watched the hologram and waved its paws in its direction. When the children were reunited on At Attin, Snowball once again jumped into Neel's arms.
Biography
Nesting in a droid
Snowball, a bilge rat, had established its nest within the emptied head of the droid SM-33. This droid was located on the Onyx Cinder, a starship that was buried on the planet At Attin. Snowball's presence there resulted in damage to the droid's memory systems. Around 9 ABY, the children Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB discovered the Onyx Cinder. Inside the ship, Neel came across SM-33, who was inactive, and peered into his vacant eye socket while taking a closer look at the droid. Snowball then made a sudden leap out of the socket, startling Neel and causing him to accidentally bump SM-33's arm. This action caused the ship's hatch to close, trapping them inside. While the children were searching for the ship's power conduit in an attempt to restore power to the hatch, Wim managed to power on the starship. Shortly after, he unintentionally caused it to jump into hyperspace.
After the Onyx Cinder emerged from hyperspace, a reactivated SM-33 entered the ship's cockpit. There, Fern convinced him to accept her as the ship's captain and to take them back home. The droid, unable to remember At Attin, began searching his memory bank for the planet's location. During this process, Snowball began to squeak and poked its head out of SM-33's eye socket, drawing the attention of Fern and KB. Snowball then jumped out and scurried across the ship's control panel. As it did, Neel jokingly suggested that the rat had consumed SM-33's brain. Snowball then paused in front of Neel, who greeted the rat before it jumped onto him, causing him to scream. Unable to figure out how to return to their homeworld, the children agreed to SM-33's suggestion to take them to the spaceport at Port Borgo. Just before the droid initiated the hyperspace jump, Snowball climbed back into his eye.
Imprisoned at Port Borgo
Upon their arrival at Port Borgo, the children sought someone who could provide them with directions to At Attin. However, the pirates present attempted to steal Wim's Old Republic credits. As a group of pirates surrounded the children, SM-33 stepped in to protect them, positioning himself between the children and the pirate named Vane. The droid warned Vane that he would not leave without his captain, and Snowball peeked out of his eye to shriek at the pirate. SM-33 defeated several of the pirates, and the group attempted to flee to the Onyx Cinder. Before they could reach it, SM-33 was shot by the pirate Brutus with an ion rifle. The droid shut down, and Snowball scurried out of his eye socket and rolled on the ground. It approached Neel, who gently scooped the rat up with his hands. Brutus then ordered the children to be locked in the port's brig.
After being locked in the brig, the children began devising a plan to escape. Neel, still holding Snowball, suggested training it to retrieve the cell's key, which was hanging nearby. He knelt by the cell's caged door and pointed toward the key, instructing Snowball to climb up the poles, grab the key, and bring it back to them, then asked Snowball if it understood him. In response, Snowball turned around in Neel's hand to look at him and squeaked. Neel then lowered his hand and reminded Snowball where the key was.
The rat jumped out of his hand, then scurried to the poles and began climbing them. Upon reaching the key, Snowball stood on its hind legs and looked at the key. The rat glanced toward the children and then returned to standing on four legs while moving in front of the key. Wim pointed toward the key while he and the others tried to further instruct the rat, but Snowball instead spun around in place and cleaned itself before scurrying away, eventually returning to SM-33's head. Wim groaned in response to their plan's failure, and the children went back to planning their escape.
Eating porridge
With the assistance of a fellow prisoner, the pirate Jod Na Nawood, the children escaped and made their way back to the Onyx Cinder. After convincing Na Nawood to return and rescue SM-33, Neel reminded him not to forget the rat. Upon locating SM-33 in a droid repair shop, Na Nawood powered the droid on to confirm its identity. While Na Nawood questioned the droid, Snowball peaked out of his eye and squeaked. The pirate then deactivated SM-33 and brought him back aboard the Onyx Cinder before jumping to hyperspace and escaping the port.
While the children were examining the deactivated SM-33, Snowball exited his eye socket and climbed around his head. When KB activated SM-33, Snowball leapt off his head and scurried away. Later, as the children ate some porridge, Neel held Snowball and fed it some of his food off of a spoon. After eating some of the porridge, the rat scurried off of Neel's hand and onto the table he was sitting at. It sat on its hind legs and used its front paws to eat more, then scurried down off the table.
After obtaining coordinates from the astronomer Kh'ymm on the Observatory Moon, the crew traveled to the planet At Achrann, which they initially believed to be At Attin. While the children disembarked from the Onyx Cinder, Na Nawood remained on board with SM-33 and asked the droid about At Attin. In response, SM-33 turned to look at Na Nawood and began to speak to him, then paused. Snowball briefly popped out of his eye hole and squeaked, and the droid then again said he did not remember At Attin. Later, as the crew was traveling to the planet Lanupa to find coordinates to At Attin, SM-33 told the children about the pirate Tak Rennod, who had scanned At Attin's coordinates in his lair on Skull Ridge Mountain on the planet. As he told them about Rennod's lair, Snowball poked out of his eye upside down. The bilge rat then righted itself and stretched its front legs.
Return to At Attin
On Lanupa, Na Nawood betrayed the children, but he and SM-33 were captured by his former crew. Na Nawood convinced the crew that he could take them to At Attin and the treasure there, and the pirates captured the children and the Onyx Cinder, which was capable of passing through the Barrier surrounding At Attin. While SM-33 piloted the Onyx Cinder toward At Attin, Snowball peered out of his eye and looked around, watching as the ship approached the planet. When Na Nawood entered the cockpit, SM-33 stood and approached him, and Snowball retreated inside the droid's head. Na Nawood quickly beheaded SM-33 with a lightsaber and the droid collapsed. He then ordered the children to get on the ground, and Snowball climbed out of SM-33's head and jumped to the floor. As Na Nawood stepped toward the children, he kicked Snowball aside and it screeched at him.
While Na Nawood and his crew launched an invasion of At Attin, KB—with assistance from SM-33, whose head she held next to his body—attempted to pilot the Onyx Cinder back past the Barrier in order to contact Kh'ymm for help. As the droid told KB to hold his head steady, Snowball jumped around in front of her and squeaked. As the ship approached the Barrier, Snowball climbed up KB's arm and hopped onto her head. Shortly after, while KB was speaking with Kh'ymm via hologram, Snowball approached the hologram and rose on its hind legs. It then moved closer and again rose on its hind legs before leaping toward the hologram. After nearly falling off the control panel, Snowball climbed back up and sat close to the hologram while repeatedly waving its paws into it. It then looked around and climbed back down.
Soon after, the Onyx Cinder was shot down by a pirate frigate and crashed on At Attin. After New Republic forces sent by Kh'ymm defeated the pirates, Wim, Fern, and Neel went to the crash site of the Onyx Cinder, where they reunited with KB. As the ship shuddered, the children began to move away to avoid being crushed. Before Neel stood, Snowball squeaked and hopped into his hands. Neel greeted Snowball and then carried it in his hands as they walked away from the crash site.
Behind the scenes
Snowball's initial appearance occurred simultaneously in the episodes titled "This Could Be a Real Adventure" and "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier." These were the initial two episodes of the live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which were broadcast on December 2, 2024. Prior to the series' release, Snowball was first depicted in an article on StarWars.com that was published on August 10 of the same year. Subsequently, it was featured in a trailer for the series that was uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on November 1, 2024. The day after the episodes were released, Snowball was identified in another StarWars.com article. The prop for Snowball was created by Legacy Effects.
The vocalizations of Snowball were provided by sound designer David W. Collins, although they underwent significant pitching and processing. However, Collins felt there was an element missing and wanted a more feral sound for when Snowball shrieked at Neel or at pirates. Collins wanted Snowball to sound similar to the monkey in the 1981 film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Because Skywalker Sound had worked on the film, Collins was able to find the raw monkey recording in Skywalker Sound's effects library and then pitch and filter it to use in his vocal track.
Nick Frost, the voice actor for SM-33, cited the rat residing in the droid's eye as one of the reasons he found SM-33's unique design to be "a dream." Frost likened their relationship to "a Star Wars Ratatouille," referencing the 2007 animated film. He imagined that the rat caused the droid's brain to tickle and that he could be heard laughing at night in his quarter. Frost also mentioned that, despite having watched films for fifty years, the concept of a robot with a rat in its brain was something entirely new to him. Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who played Fern, expressed her fondness for the little rat, and Robert Timothy Smith, who played Neel, described it as his best friend.