On April 28th, Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy is setting sail to Neverland to reimagine the classic story for longtime fans and new viewers. While promoting the film, Jude Law (Captain Marvel) and director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon) spoke with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff about the evolution of the story and Captain Hook's brand-new backstory.

Co-written by Lowery, Peter Pan & Wendy is a live-action adaptation that tells the timeless story of Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) and Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson), but with themes that speak to the world today and more “depth of character.” One especially significant distinction is how Captain Hook is approached. Though he’s still Pan’s adversary in the movie, Law shares with Perri the major change to his backstory and also small details fans should look out for. As Law teases, “What's extraordinary about this version is that by the end, he's been on a journey.”

Before Peter Pan & Wendy premieres on Disney+, hear all about what Lowery dubs “the centrifuge of the entire movie” in the video interview above or read about it in transcript form below. Lowery and Law also discuss what changed from the initial pitch to the finished film, and what it was like joining the Star Wars franchise with the upcoming series Skeleton Crew.

PERRI NEMIROFF: David, I was reading that Disney first approached you about this film when you were winding down on Pete's Dragon. What would you say is the biggest difference between how you pictured the film turning out when you first committed to making it and what we see in the final product?

DAVID LOWERY: That's an excellent question. I think it is quite similar to what we had in mind in that it feels real, it's got the rush and the scope and the sense of adventure that, no pun intended, hooked me from the very beginning. And it has the depth of character that I was yearning for when I thought of like, “How would I tell this story?” But there are so many things that I could never have anticipated. There were so many twists and turns the project took over the years that I just could not have dreamed up back then, whatever day in March of 2016 that I signed on to this. [Laughs] The joy of working on something for this long, and this is certainly the longest I've ever worked on one thing, is seeing those watermarks along the way, of seeing how it develops, seeing how it changed, seeing how I changed as I made this film.

To get an example, can you share something specific that changed throughout that process?

LOWERY: Certainly. When I set out to make the movie initially, I was like, “Let's do a 90-minute Peter Pan adventure movie that hits all the beats, we're in and out, and it's just fast and furious.” Not like literally the Fast & Furious movies, but that we just keep moving. And then at a certain point, we realized, “Let's slow it down a little bit. Let's start to ask questions about these characters,” because I was starting to feel curious about them. And that led to a lot of the wonderful new material we've got about Hook and Peter that, when I first went into the studio and pitched my take, that certainly wasn't on the table, but it became the centrifuge of the entire movie in so many ways. And that was a process to get to that point.

That gives me a perfect segue! You guys open up a pretty significant door to a lot of backstory for Hook that we've never explored before. Jude, did you come up with any little details on your own that maybe we don't see or hear about directly in the film, but we can feel informing your performance that you hope viewers pick up on?

JUDE LAW: I was very lucky in that an awful lot of it is ultimately explained in the brig scene with Wendy. We talked a lot about all of the backstory in detail in pre-production, and there were just tiny little details or confirmations between the two of us that, “Okay, this is how it happened.” But beat by beat, it's pretty much as described by Hook.

I suppose what was most interesting was then taking, “Okay, if that's what happened, then how has that affected who he is and what he is and what he looks like?” And of course, suddenly, you take an idea or take a story, and it suddenly turns into something three-dimensional and fleshed out, and then you start thinking about, “Well, actually playing that is very different to imagining it.” Playing someone who is sort of locked into this childish childhood rivalry in the body of a 50-year-old man, who has seen and lived and done terrible things, is a really interesting area to start playing.

I was just conscious that I wanted to bring in all the elements. I wanted him to be sad, I wanted him to be scarred and gnarly and disgusting and scary, and funny too. Like an overheated, angry dad or uncle who, from a kid's perspective, is just really pathetic and loud.

LOWERY: And there were so many little details that supported that such as, I don't know if you remember, but the set, your cabin, was full of all these drawings that Hook had made of ways to maybe capture Peter Pan.

LAW: They made some of them, too! There were like little catapults and ...

LOWERY: Crossbows!

LAW: ... and balloons with nets in. I mean, just this guy of, “I've got to get this boy, I've got to get him.” There was also, I don't know if you see -- yeah, you see the collection of hands.

LOWERY: Yeah, the collection of hands in jars.

LAW: Where he’s obviously tried to sew something back on.

I love looking for all those little details. Now I have a reason to go back and watch it again!

LOWERY: You should. They're all there!

Do you view your Captain Hook as a true villain, like a person who was destined to find himself on a darker path eventually, or is he a man who was basically forced to become one, completely reshaped by the influences around him?

LAW: I think the latter. I think the latter. And I think what's extraordinary about this version is that by the end, he's been on a journey where he's allowed to retain the best parts of that, which is the sort of Yin to Peter's Yang, without the hatred. I mean, it's very interesting that he gets to say “hope” at the end. His hope is, “Oh, I can keep playing, but maybe …” Well, as Peter says, “Without such a bad game.” Peter says, “I don't like this game.” Suddenly, perhaps not the jeopardy, but the threat goes.

I want to sneak in one unrelated question before they make me leave you guys about Skeleton Crew, and I'll throw this to you, Jude, because you get to work with an exceptional lineup of directors there, David included. Is there anything you can tease about the consistent style and tone of the show, but then also how those very specific voices that we've come to love and know so well are gonna be able to shine through that as well?

LAW: I think like Disney, or like an extraordinary legacy piece of work like Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie, or like Star Wars, great storytellers, writers, directors, actors all have their version, their interpretation of that, what it means to them, and it's incredibly malleable. You’ve got to stick to certain rules, but it's very, very malleable. And what was wonderful was seeing how all of these formidable directors brought their signature, their tone to it, and yet it was always in that world, and that world can withstand a huge amount.

They've done it before, I believe they're gonna do it again with Skeleton Crew. I look forward to that, and congratulations on this. My new thing is that now that I have a niece and nephew, when I see movies like this that I know I can share with them that they'll appreciate, it just fills my heart.

LOWERY: That makes me so happy.

LAW: I hope they enjoy it!

Peter Pan & Wendy debuts on Disney+ on April 28th.