Scottish actor Rory McCann, best known for playing the burly brute The Hound on HBO’s Game of Thrones, will replace late actor Ray Stevenson for a second season of Star Wars show Ahsoka, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Stevenson played the hulking former Jedi known as Baylan Skoll in the Disney+ series. He died after a brief illness in May 2023, three months before the series premiered. The actor was a fan favorite, thanks to his resonate voice, humor and roles in Punisher: War Zone, the Thor movies and TV’s Rome.

It is unclear when the new season is to begin shooting or who will be directing. Dave Filoni was the showrunner of season one, and is returning in the same capacity.

  • @jordanlund
    link
    English
    813 hours ago

    Absolutely true, and tragic that he died, but I’m glad to see they’re re-casting instead of dropping the character.

    • @aeronmelon
      link
      English
      513 hours ago

      The end of season 1 suggested Skoll plays a very important part of the overarching plot of the series. I think dropping the character was out of the question.

      • @CaptnNMorgan
        link
        English
        11 hour ago

        Definitely was. The question was whether they would simply recast, use CGI (was always unlikely), or put a mask on him. They still might do the latter, but that’s very unlikely now since they got the Hound, who looks enough like Stevenson