Now that Ahsoka season 1 has wrapped, it represents a piece of live-action storytelling from the Star Wars universe that feels like it’s generally going in the right direction compared to other recent efforts. However, even as fans celebrate the apparent birth of a new story arc in Star Wars we must also mourn that the actor portraying one of Ahsoka‘s most interesting characters, Ray Stevenson‘s Baylan Skoll, suddenly and tragically died despite the character himself surviving the events of the series.
Stevenson, who gave an unforgettable performance as a villain in last year’s Oscar-winning musical RRR, had an illustrious career that included roles in the realms of Marvel, Star Wars, and other big franchises, including three Thor films, Punisher: War Zone, and the HBO series Rome. It was during a shoot for one of his next projects, the film Cassino on Ischia, where he was suddenly hospitalized in Italy in May and died shortly after, though a cause of death hasn’t been publicly announced.
Ever since Ahsoka‘s season 1 finale, it’s clear that the show has been a hit with many, especially for those who love Star Wars: Rebels characters such as Lars Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn. However, it’s obvious the series has not seen universal acclaim among fans, with criticism including it feeling too safe and resembling a prologue to some grander story to come rather than a cohesive stand-alone experience. With that said, the finale clearly set up that more of Baylan’s story will unfold in future Star Wars projects so what will the producers do to reconcile that fact with Stevenson’s untimely death?
Disney more or less has three options: write Baylan’s off-screen death into the story going forward for an Ahsoka season 2 and beyond, use CGI to bring Stevenson back from the dead à la Peter Cushing in Rogue One, or simply recast Baylan with a different actor. For our money, option #3 is the best, because it’s not a cringey and morally dubious approach like doing a CGI resurrection, and it still has the benefit of seeing more of the Baylan character, who as a reformed dark Jedi of sorts, is among one of the most interesting in the universe. However, the question remains: Who would be a good actor to take up the role of Baylan? Luckily, we have our list of 5 suggestions for Disney to consider, in no particular order.
Iain Glen
Iain Glen, the Scottish actor known for his roles in films like Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil series, among many other movies and shows, truly had our talent detector go off the charts with his role as Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones. Glen pulled off with aplomb the tragically complex characterization of Jorah as a knight struggling with feelings of unrequited love as the loyal ward to Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, and later plagued with the disfiguring Greyscale disease that forced him into exile for a cure.
Donal Logue
Though he may not be a marquee-grabbing household name just yet, Donal Logue boasts a career spanning decades that has included prominent roles in movies such as Blade and Zodiac, and TV shows such as Gotham and Sons of Anarchy. Whether he is playing a vampiric villain or a police detective, or even himself as is the case in the hilarious appearances he made in the show What We Do in the Shadows, Logue has delivered a consistent level of quality that we believe qualifies him to play a grandiose Star Wars villain like Baylan.
Sean Bean
Sean Bean is an actor who truly needs no introduction due to boasting an impressive filmography spanning decades in a number of iconic movies and TV shows, such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The regalness he brings to every part, including that of Ned Stark, seems essential to Baylan’s character as does Bean’s ability to be a truly menacing presence as illustrated by his villainous turn as 006 in Goldeneye and Boromir’s dark streak in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone has been an actor on my radar ever since the excellent 2005 Western that takes place in Australia, The Proposition. Since then, his star has only been on the rise in acclaimed roles in films like The Departed, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf. Winstone hilariously recounted a story in which he blew his audition to be in Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace due to showing up drunk, according to Express. Though he later worked with Lucasfilm for Crystal Skull maybe Winstone taking the reigns as Baylan can fully redeem him in the world of Star Wars.
Brendan Gleeson
There are arguably few actors working today as respected as Brendan Gleeson, with one example being the nuanced performance playing one half of a deceased friendship in The Banshees of Inisherin garnering him an Oscar nomination earlier this year. The man has starred in a countless number of memorable roles, from the Harry Potter franchise to Gangs of New York and the Oscar-winning historical epic from Mel Gibson, Braveheart. Whether he’s playing a gangster or Donald Trump in the 2020 Showtime miniseries The Comey Rule, Gleeson clearly has the range and bravado that would serve well as an iconic role in the world of Star Wars and Ahsoka as Baylan.