Game of Thrones' Hound joins the Ahsoka season 2 cast in the late Ray Stevenson's role — and the trailer locks in a January 2027 release date
Lucasfilm had to decide what to do with one of its best new villains after losing the actor who played him, and the answer took almost two years.
Ahsoka season 2 premieres on Disney+ on January 20, 2027. Lucasfilm revealed the date at D23 in Anaheim on August 14, 2026, along with the first teaser, which gives us our first real look at Rory McCann, aka Sandor "The Hound" Clegane, as the fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll.
The role belonged to Ray Stevenson, who died on May 21, 2023, at 58, three months before season 1 premiered. The series premiere ended with a dedication to him. Baylan was left stranded on the planet Peridea in the season 1 finale, standing at the statues of the Mortis gods, mid-quest and very much unfinished.
How Baylan survived
For a while, it wasn't clear he would. Dave Filoni later admitted that losing Stevenson made season 2 a much bigger challenge, and got visibly emotional talking about it at Star Wars Celebration in 2025. Writing Baylan out was on the table. Filoni and Jon Favreau decided against it, with Filoni explaining that the character was meant to be important.
Insider Jeff Sneider first reported McCann's casting in January 2025, and The Hollywood Reporter confirmed it. McCann and Stevenson were friends, and McCann has been open about why he took it:
"It's the right decision to carry on his storyline, not just cut it off."
— Rory McCann, to ComicBook.com
Here's where the rest of season 2 stands:
- Who's back: Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera, Lars Mikkelsen as Thrawn, Eman Esfandi as Ezra, Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati, and Hayden Christensen as Anakin.
- Who's recast: only two characters, per THR. Baylan, and the Nightsister Klothow.
- Where it picks up: Ahsoka and Sabine are stuck on Peridea, Baylan and Shin are still out there, and Thrawn is back in the main galaxy declaring war on the New Republic.
By the time season 2 premieres, more than three years will have passed since the season 1 finale.
The Filoni factor
Season 2 is also the first Ahsoka season to arrive with Filoni running the whole company. Kathleen Kennedy stepped down in January 2026 after 14 years, and Filoni became Lucasfilm president and chief creative officer, sharing the top job with co-president Lynwen Brennan. Ahsoka, the show he created and runs, is now the boss's show in the most literal sense.
The timing of the premiere matters too. Ahsoka didn't show up in The Mandalorian and Grogu, which hit theaters in May 2026, so January 2027 is the first time she's been on screen since the season 1 finale in October 2023. It also gets the franchise rolling into 2027, the year of Star Wars' 50th anniversary, with Star Wars: Starfighter on the way to theaters.
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