Actor Ray Stevenson died on May 21, 2023, three months before Star Wars fans got to see him play Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka Season 1 with their their Disney+ subscription. Since the season ended making it clear Baylan’s story was meant to continue, it was unclear at first if the role would be recast for the next season or if those narrative plans would be scrapped. Then it was revealed in January that Rory McCann would take over playing Baylan, and now the Game of Thrones alum has explained why he thinks this was the “right decision” for Ahsoka Season 2.
McCann, who played The Hound in the popular HBO series (which can be streamed with a Max subscription), opened up about succeeding Stevenson in the upcoming Star Wars TV show while speaking with ComicBook about his 2025 movie release Tornado, saying:
I think it’s the right decision to carry on his storyline, not just cut it off. We’ve done it before with other things. I hope the fans embrace it and I’ll do my best. I’m just starting now, so I’m just trying to be in the right zone for doing it. It’s pretty bloody exciting. I mean, I remember being a kid with my dad, going to the first one probably in the late ’70s and ’80s. Now I’m training with a lightsaber at night, so it’s pretty exciting.
Baylan Skoll was last seen on the planet Peridea, stranded there just like Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren and his now-former apprentice Shin Hati. Unlike those three though, this is exactly where Baylan wanted to be, as he was determined to find a source of great power on this world that he believed would finally end the conflict between the light and dark sides of the Force. It seemed like he was making progress when he discovered statues of the three Mortis Gods, who were previously seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
I agree with Rory McCann that it was the better move to recast Baylan rather than just write him out Ahsoka. Honestly, with all the groundwork that was laid for the character in Season 1, it feels like it would have taken more effort to come up with a plausible, in-universe explanation for why his storyline was being abandoned. Ray Stevenson did a good job playing Baylan in Season 1, but now it’s time to see how McCann will do playing him, and it sounds like he’s been enjoying the preparation process for Season 2.
Baylan Skoll isn’t the only major Star Wars character to be recast recently. We just saw Benjamin Bratt playing Bail Organa in the recently-concluded Andor Season 2, though in that case, this came about because of scheduling conflicts with Jimmy Smits, Bail’s original actor. And then, of course, most of the leading established characters on Ahsoka are played by different actors than the one who voiced them in Star Wars Rebels, including Rosario Dawson as the title protagonist, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla and Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Rory McCann looks wielding the orange lightsaber and picking up on Baylan Skoll where Ray Stevenson left off. Ahsoka Season 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but principal photography began in late April.
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