There was some sad news that came out today, as Ray Stevenson died on Sunday at the age of 58.
Stevenson was known for roles in projects like King Arthur, Rome, Punisher: War Zone, the Thor movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and RRR, among others. Beyond that, he had a role in three different Star Wars shows. In Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he voiced the character Gar Saxon, a Mandalorian of Clan Vizsla who aligned with Death Watch and Maul’s Shadow Collective before becoming the Imperial regent over Mandalore.
But Stevenson will also appear in the upcoming Ahsoka series, which he’ll wind up starring in posthumusly, as Baylon Skoll, a Force-sensitive villain who wields an orangish-red lightsaber and was seen in the trailer dueling Ahsoka Tano. Baylon, as well as his apprentice Shin Hati, appeared quite a bit in the trailer, suggesting a significant role for him during the series. Not much is known about him, but Variety described him as a former Jedi who has fallen to the dark side and is now aligned with Grand Admiral Thrawn. That’s info we could have easily guessed by putting together the pieces, so it’s unclear whether that’s actually true reporting or just their speculation. But either way, it seems that Stevenson’s role in the series is quite substantial.
Just over a month ago Stevenson appeared at Star Wars Celebration and was enthusiastic about being there and about the upcoming Ahsoka series, talking about how great it was to wield a lightsaber and be a part of it. He shared that when Dave Filoni first called him, he assumed it was for Gar Saxon and was trying to figure out how that would work in the timeline, but then Filoni shared about the new character they had created. Stevenson was thrilled to be able to be a part of it.
On Twitter, one of Stevenson’s co-stars in the series, Rosario Dawson, expressed her grief over his death, as did the Kiners, who are providing the series score:
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