13
votes
Ahsoka Season 2 will recast the late Ray Stevenson with Game of Thrones' "The Hound" instead of killing off Baylan Skoll
Link information
This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.
- Title
- 'Game of Thrones' Actor Rory McCann Replacing the Late Ray Stevenson for 'Ahsoka' Season 2
- Authors
- Borys Kit
- Published
- Jan 10 2025
- Word count
- 219 words
As some of you may recall, the first season of the Ahsoka live action series featured a former Jedi turned bounty hunter/pseudo Sith, who for a lot of people really stole the show. Even people who didn't really care for the rest of the series were a fan of his character and felt he was the best part of it. Sadly, the actor passed away a few months before the series released, and never got to see how much people loved his performance.
The confirmation of season 2, the actor's death, and the final scene teasing him playing a major role in the next season raised a big question at the time: recast Stevenson, or kill him off offscreen, requiring plans for season 2 to be rewritten? Some fans came up with ideas how they could have the character's apprentice step up and take a larger role, but many were hoping for a recast, suggesting possible replacement actors. I was definitely of the opinion to recast. Stevenson gave such a great performance getting people invested in the character, I felt it would be a shame to not continue where he left off. Well, it seems the recasters got their wish! Of course Rory McCann gave an iconic and memorable performance in Game of Thrones, so I think he's got this.
Definitely he was the best character in the show - him and Ivanna Sakhno, his apprentice, were such a cool duo. So I wouldn't have minded if she kind of took his role permitting it was done in a decent enough way. However while Rory McCann does have big shoes to fill I can see him in the role, it's very good casting. He has the same presence to pull off the character so I'm happy about that!
But very tempered expectations for the show as a whole. It was better than most D+ Star Wars or MCU shows (the two franchises are similar in many ways I feel) but still not good. There were some real missteps in the first season. The role Jack Black had for example, like.. really!?
Jack Black was in The Mandalorian, not Ahsoka.
Ah, thanks for the correction!
I guess I misremember because of the overlap. And that show's last season wasn't great either.
Yeah, remembering the presence he had in Game of Thrones in any scene he was in, I think he will do well. His journey with Arya is a decent audition for being an edgy ex Jedi with an apprentice. When people were discussing the possibility of recasting originally, in retrospect I think people were more discussing actors that looked similar enough, but McCann should be able to give a performance that feels similar, which would be more important.
Pretty sure the Jack Black character was in Mandalorian, not Ahsoka. But the Ahsoka show definitely did have flaws, though. There were a lot of pieces that were very cool to see, but they didn't quite come together properly. Compared to a lot of other Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars content I did have a lot more fun watching it, but yeah as you say it's fun, but not good. It definitely doesn't hold a candle to Andor or the peak of the animated content. There's a lot of room for improvement and I hope they improve things in the next season.
That's always what happens with this.. bio pics too. But the looks really don't matter. The mannerisms and inhibiting of the person is what matters, not that they are a lookalike. So yes, that it feels similar.
I posted about it around the time it came out if you want to take a look. A lot of good discussion I thought (no need to retread the same points here I think)
https://tildes.net/~tv/1blr/ahsoka_doesnt_really_work
Huh! I've liked far more MCU D+ shows than Star Wars with exception to Secret Invasion (awful....)
I’m not sure if he’ll give me the same presence, but I hope to be proven wrong.
Ray Stevenson was something special. He was amazing as Titus Pullo in Rome.