'Knuckles' Actor Rory McCann Taking Over As Baylan Skoll In 'Ahsoka' Season 2 For Ray Stevenson
Stevenson died in May 2023 at the age of 58, three months before the series premiere
Ahsoka’s first season finale showed that the story was going to continue with Baylan Skoll. But there was an issue: Skoll’s actor, Ray Stevenson, died in May 2023. That was a whole three months before the Star Wars Disney+ series even premiered. Skoll was going to need a remodel. The character has been officially recast ahead of the second season with Game of Thrones and Knuckles actor Rory McCann. The two were reportedly friends.
It is unknown when production on the new season will begin, nor has its class of directors been revealed. Series creator Dave Filoni, who created protagonist Ahsoka Tano for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, returns as showrunner. Most directly a Mandalorian spin-off, Ahsoka continued the story of the ex-Jedi played here by Rosario Dawson, who was still in search of Jedi Ezra Bridger and the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn, who were hurled into deep space by star whales in the series finale of Star Wars Rebels, which took place at least a decade prior. They had yet to be found, but would finally resurface in episode 6 of this series. In her way were Dark Jedi Skoll and his apprentice, Shin Hati, played by Ivanna Sakhno. The Jedi-turned-mercenary revealed in that sixth episode that something was compelling him to remain on Peridea, and in the next episode, the penultimate, he sought to pursue some kind of new path there.
Best known as Sandor “The Hound” Clegane on HBO’s Game of Thrones, McCann’s film credits include Hot Fuzz, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Jumanji: The Next Level. He’s also been on a bit of a Paramount kick, being the voice of Megatron on Transformers: EarthSpark, playing The Buyer in the Knuckles miniseries, both on Paramount+, and Tegula in Gladiator II.
Before being cast as Skoll, Stevenson was probably best known for starring as Volstagg, one of the Warriors Three in the first three Thor films. According to his partner Elisabetta Carracia, he was felled by recurrent heart problems. Other roles included Titus Pullo on HBO’s 2005-2007 series Rome, as Frank Castle, the Punisher in Punisher: War Zone, Firefly in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Marcus Eaton in The Divergent Series’s Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. The actor had died on the Italian island of Ischia while working on the Frank Ciota-directed film Cassino on Ischia and would be recast there with Prison Break and Legends of Tomorrow’s Dominic Purcell. Posthumous releases still came after Ahsoka’s first season finished, with Canary Black releasing this past October dedicated to him, and 1242: Gateway to the West, where he replaced Kevin Spacey still awaiting release.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter