Ray Stevenson (Left) Rory McCann (Right)
The best thing about Star Wars: Ahsoka by a long mile was the mysterious new Dark Jedi, Baylan Skoll, a complex and intriguing character whose motives and galactic alignment remained shrouded in mystery by the end of Season 1.
Skoll was played with a grim stoicism by Ray Stevenson (Rome) who tragically passed away before the show landed on Disney+. He was just 58 years old. The question on everyone’s mind since then is who would replace this wonderful actor who so perfectly brought to life one of the best Star Wars characters of the Disney era?
My “dream casting” was Vincent Regan, an actor we recently saw playing Ser Rickard Thorne in House Of The Dragon’s second season on HBO:
It’s a little bit ironic, I suppose, that Disney and Lucasfilm have snagged another actor known for his time spent in Westeros to fill Stevenson’s shoes. Baylan Skoll will be played by Rory McCann in Season 2, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. McCann is best known for his excellent portrayal of Ser Sandor “The Hound” Clegane in Game Of Thrones.
McCann certainly has the size and can pull off the stoic demeanor for the role, though I suspect it will still be rather jarring to have someone who looks so different filling Stevenson’s rather large shoes. Of course, McCann is actually quite a bit taller than Stevenson, so he’ll be an even more intimidating presence in Ahsoka, surrounded by mostly much shorter actors.
This is a strong recast and a far, far better decision than killing off—or simply disappearing—Skoll. Ahsoka was not a very good show overall, but I’ll happily watch Season 2 just to find out what this character is up to. In the end, I was left with very mixed feelings about the Dave Filoni-produced series. Here’s hoping the writing improves for the second season. There’s no word on when it will begin filming, let alone a release date.
The current Star Wars show on Disney+ is Skeleton Crew, which I’ve been enjoying a great deal. It’s The Goonies meets Star Wars meets Treasure Island and Jude Law is excellent in it.
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