Christensen Returns for Ahsoka Season 2; McCann Joins Cast

Hayden Christensen will reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker in the second season of Ahsoka, Lucasfilm confirmed during the Star Wars Celebration event in Tokyo. Production is scheduled to begin next week in the United Kingdom.

Christensen made a surprise appearance on stage following the screening of a brief scene featuring Anakin and Ahsoka. “There’s not much I can share, but Anakin will be back for season two,” he told the audience, drawing cheers from the crowd. His return continues the storyline of Ahsoka Tano’s former Jedi Master, expanding on their history introduced in previous animated series and reestablished during his appearances in season one.

The panel, which included series creator Dave Filoni, executive producer Jon Favreau, and lead actor Rosario Dawson, also confirmed a major recasting. Rory McCann will take over the role of Baylan Skoll following the death of Ray Stevenson in May 2023. Stevenson had filmed his role before the premiere of Ahsoka’s first season, and his character emerged as a key figure in the unfolding narrative.

Filoni spoke candidly about the decision to recast Baylan. “Season 2 was predictably a big challenge because of losing Ray,” he said. “I found a way in — I had Ray in my head. I’m grateful for all my conversations with him about Baylan. So, I understood what to do, it just took a while to get there.” Filoni confirmed that he made the decision in consultation with Stevenson’s family.

Dawson and Filoni both emphasized the difficulty in replacing Stevenson. Dawson, who worked with McCann two decades ago on Alexander, said it came down to finding someone who could carry the same intensity. Filoni added that Baylan was designed to serve as a mirror to Ahsoka — a character who also walked away from the Jedi Order but followed a very different path.

McCann’s past roles include appearances in Gladiator II, Hot Fuzz, and Jumanji: The Next Level, along with his long-running performance as Sandor Clegane in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

The new season will also see the return of Admiral Ackbar, with Filoni confirming that the character will face Grand Admiral Thrawn in a storyline continuation from the first season. “He’s going head-to-head with Thrawn,” Filoni said, later adding with a smile that he resisted writing Ackbar’s famous line: “It’s a trap!”

The first season concluded in October 2023 with Thrawn’s escape through hyperspace, while Ahsoka, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) remained stranded on the remote planet Peridea. Filoni noted that Thrawn’s arc draws influence from Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire novel, calling the character a formidable threat even without the Force.

Filoni also mentioned that Dawson has not read all of the scripts for the upcoming season. “He keeps re-writing them,” she said, referencing Filoni’s ongoing development work on the storyline.