It was a very intense set because I had in my mind that I was telling the story of George Senior and George W Bush. John Kerry, who ran for president in 2004, is also an alumnus. Bush was an alumnus of the real Skull and Bones secret society at Yale. At the time, it was also especially relevant as then-president George W.

While Luke McNamara and Caleb Mandrake are completely fictional characters, writer John Pogue went to Yale and director Rob Cohen went to Harvard and the story is absolutely meant to portray real aspects of how elite secret societies function. Director Rob Cohen liked working with Paul Walker so much, he hired him to star in his next film, The Fast and the Furious (2001). However, Luke keeps investigating and eventually the secret society turns on him and seeks to eliminate him as a threat to their secrecy.

Luke is suspicious, but Caleb tries to convince him that he needs The Skulls to fund his dream of going to law school more than he needs to uncover the truth about Will. Tensions arise when Luke’s friend Will is killed while investigating The Skulls for an expose in the school paper and his death is framed as a suicide. If it’s secret and elite, it can’t be good. Upon initiation he is given wealthy heir Caleb Mandrake (Walker) as his partner. To the displeasure of his friends Chloe (Bibb) and Will (Hill Harper), Luke is invited to join the most prestigious secret society at the school, The Skulls. The plot of The Skulls follows Luke McNamara (Jackson), a working class orphan and junior at a prestigious (unnamed) Ivy League school he attends on a rowing scholarship.

The Skulls starring Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker and Leslie Bibb is a memorable early 2000s thriller both because of its teen stars and because it was based on a salacious open secret: there really is a secret society at Yale called “Skull and Bones” and if you look up their list of alumni you’ll find former presidents, judges, diplomats and owners of major media outlets.

Skull and bones society movie