A male Teek of the male persuasion was employed as a dinghy driver, specifically a ferryman, at the spaceport known as Starport Borgo during the period known as the New Republic Era. This individual operated a space dinghy that made connections with arriving starships, providing transport for newcomers to the designated landing platform situated on the asteroid.
In the vicinity of 9 ABY, this dinghy driver extended its services to the youthful members of the Skeleton Crew, who had found themselves adrift in the galaxy after an accidental departure from their homeworld aboard an abandoned starship. The younglings compensated the driver with Old Republic credits, a form of currency it readily accepted and then scurried away with excitement. At a later time, the children sought to utilize the ferryman's services once more, but the transaction did not materialize because the younglings were apprehended by Brutus's pirate crew.
This particular individual was a male Teek who held the position of a ferryman at Starport Borgo during the time of the New Republic Era. The driver was in charge of a space dinghy with a plastic roof that used a suction tube to connect with incoming starships, enabling the transportation of new arrivals to the landing platform on the pirate asteroid. It piloted the craft from a dome on the side, gripping a control stick.
Circa 9 ABY, the ferryman made a docking maneuver with the pirate ship known as the Onyx Cinder and invited the younglings Fern, KB, Neel, and Wim to come aboard. Encouraged by their droid SM-33, the children boarded the Teek's dinghy and were transported to the port. After the kids disembarked, the Teek jumped onto Fern's back, speaking in its native language while extending its hand. Despite a lack of comprehension of its speech, KB deduced that the individual was seeking payment for the ferrying service. Consequently, Wim gave the driver an Old Republic credit that his father had provided as lunch money. Recognizing the value of this currency, the Teek eagerly seized the coin and hastily departed.
The dinghy driver then made an appearance at a noodle bar, the same location being visited by Neel and Wim. The individual climbed onto the counter and noticed Wim paying with Old Republic credits once more. The Teek jumped back down just as the fry cook became embroiled in a dispute with a greasy patron over the valuable coin, onto whose shoulder it quickly climbed to observe as the boys excused themselves for possessing this long-obsolete currency. Wim and Neel claimed to be from At Attin, a mysterious planet dismissed as a myth within pirate circles. As a confrontation seemed imminent, Wim threw his bowl of noodles onto the grill to create a fiery distraction before he and Neel quickly exited the noodle bar.
Sometime later, the younglings made their way back to the dinghy, having escaped a pursuing group of pirates and thugs following the altercation at the noodle bar. Fern instructed Wim to provide payment again, but communication was hindered by the ferryman's use of its non-Basic language. Although the boy reached into his pocket to retrieve the currency, the transaction was interrupted by the arrival of Brutus's pirate crew seeking the younglings. After Captain Brutus disabled SM-33, the children initially argued with him before being arrested for further questioning. While confined in a brig, the younglings allied with former pirate Silvo to escape and sought the dinghy driver's assistance in returning to their ship. During the dinghy ride, the passengers discussed the condition of the younglings' ship, with Silvo expressing disbelief at their claims of its dilapidated state.
The ferryman was a blue-eyed, male Teek with light-brown skin and a disheveled appearance, featuring pointed ears and sparse white hair covering much of its face and limbs. Being small and agile, it had a tendency to jump onto the shoulders of others to gain a better perspective or to facilitate communication. When excited, it moved rapidly with short, quick steps. It communicated in the Teek language and continued to do so even when faced with communication challenges.
The dinghy driver made its debut in the second episode of the live-action series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which was broadcast on December 2, 2024. According to co-production designer Doug Chiang, dinghies were conceived as a Star-Wars–themed parallel to real-world "rowboats going from the pirate ships to the dock." The ferryman was a puppet controlled by hand, created by Legacy Effects and digitally untouched except for the animation of its hand gestures. For David Lowery, the director of "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier," seeing the same, unretouched puppet on screen that he had previously seen on set created a sense of "cognitive dissonance." During a charity livestream with the 501st Legion, actor Sam Witwer suggested that he might have provided the character's voice.
The episode "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier" presented two pronominal approaches for the character, with KB referring to it as it and Fern calling it him. Ultimately, KB's pronominal choice was consistently used in the episode's audio description, narrated by Jedediah Barton.
The man was a member of a species originally created for Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and was the first Teek individual to be depicted within the established canon continuity. The inclusion of a Teek character in the series was the idea of showrunner Jon Watts, while the other showrunner, Christopher Ford, contributed to its portrayal by giving it a "rough" appearance. Addressing the differences between the Ewoks and Skeleton Crew portrayals of the species, Watts explained that the ferryman was more like a Teek who had "fallen on hard times," which would account for its thinner build and less hairy appearance compared to other Teeks.