The late Ray Stevenson, one of the stars of last year’s excellent RRR, will soon be appearing in the Star Wars universe as yet another survivor of Order 66 in the upcoming Disney Plus series Ahsoka. Now that may sound like a badass origin story, but some fans of the galaxy far, far away are throwing up their hands in defeat since it is now an overused plot point in the franchise.
Stevenson’s role as the villain Baylan Skoll — who is a former Padawan that survived Emperor Palpatine’s mass Jedicide — was confirmed in the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via ScreenRant). Although an image of a masked Inquisitor wielding a red lightsaber was released in promotion for Ahsoka, we’ve yet to confirm with certainty that Stevenson’s Baylan is the Inquisitor in question. What’s more, the Empire article described Baylan as an ex-Jedi-turned-mercenary, so take that information as you will.
At any rate, the idea of characters coming back after surviving Order 66 — and even breaking bad in the process — has become a bit of a cliché within the modern Star Wars universe. Heck, even last year’s Disney Plus show Obi Wan Kenobi featured Moses Ingram’s Reva, an Inquisitor who also happened to be an Order 66 survivor.
Soon after the character backstory for Stevenson’s Baylan was disclosed, Star Wars fans did not hesitate to express their fatigue over this particular bit of recycled lore.
One Twitter user used a Toy Story meme to great effect to express how mass-manufactured the Order 66 survivor backstory truly feels.
For one Star Wars fan, the franchise is starting to feel a little too color-by-number.
And would it kill Lucasfilm to maybe focus on one Order 66 survivor who doesn’t immediately fall to the dark side, for once? OK, that may be an exaggeration, but we see the point.
Only a classic Spongebob meme could summarize one pop culture fan’s thoughts.
Yep, if anything, Order 66 actually extends your lifespan. It’s the new trick doctors hate that you’ve been hearing about.
As one Twitter user pointed out, it’s not necessarily the existence of Order 66 survivors in itself that is offensive, but the seemingly high concentration of them in specific parts of the galaxy.
Personally, as a casual Star Wars fan, the repeated use of this trope is starting to wear on me. It’s right up there with the recent deluge of stories taking place on Tatooine — which was normally meant to be a middle-of-nowhere dump on the outskirts of the universe — as one of my least favorite re-used Star Wars clichés nowadays.
All that said, I’m still willing to give Ahsoka a shot regardless, as Rosario Dawson’s portrayal of the character so far — in shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett — have been highlights of those respective series.
Ahsoka comes to Disney Plus in August.
