The Big Picture
- Ray Stevenson's performance as Baylan Skoll in the latest episode of Ahsoka brings depth and complexity to the character, showcasing his motivations and beliefs.
- Skoll's journey from surviving Order 66 to becoming a bitter mercenary for Grand Admiral Thrawn is portrayed with nuance, demonstrating his dedication to his own agenda and philosophy.
- The dynamics between Skoll and his apprentice, Shin Hati, are presented as healthier and more equitable than other master-apprentice relationships in Star Wars.
The most recent episode of Ahsoka, entitled "Fallen Jedi", marks a significant episode for Ray Stevenson and his character, Baylan Skoll, shedding light on the character's motivations and affording the actor the opportunity to infuse his performance with a rich complexity. We lost the great Irish actor earlier this year, and his performance as the antagonist (or, at least, one of them) in Ahsoka has been a gift from beyond, as much as it has a sad reminder of the true talent that we all lost as willing and participating audience members.
Stevenson's character has been very well received, despite the show itself having somewhat mixed reviews. Skoll was, like an uncommonly large number of Jedi, a survivor of Order 66. Following those events, he became bitter and twisted towards his fate and decided to use his Force-sensitive abilities to become a mercernary for hire. This consequently led him to becoming one of Grand Admiral Thrawn's (Lars Mikkelsen) most trusted hands, roaming the galaxy as an enforcer, and ensuring order was followed in the way that the Empire would have wanted it to be, before it was shattered into millions of Death Star-shaped pieces.
However, within the show, Stevenson has played the character with nuance. When Natasha Liu Bordizzo's Sabine Wren relents, handing him a map to Thrawn, he prevents Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), his apprentice, from killing the unarmed Sabine, noting that he had given her his word that she would be unharmed for trading it over. The dynamics between the pair are also far more healthy and equitable than any other master-apprentice partnerships we've seen in Star Wars.
Serving a Greater Good
Reflecting on Stevenson's portrayal of Baylan Skoll, the episode's director, Peter Ramsey commented to IGN:
"The idea that he was evil or a bad guy was never part of the discussion. It was just like, no, he has an agenda and he has a belief system that he's very rigorous and sincere about. And it's just a different one that the other characters have. So in the way that Ray played him, he was playing a person who was at peace with his own decisions and had a real goal and a real philosophy and he wasn't gonna betray it. It wasn't, 'at last I can destroy the Jedi' or anything like that. It's what Baylan says in the episode: 'I see things differently than you do. I disagree with your way' and he actually does believe he's serving a greater good.”
The fifth episode of Ahsoka will stream later day on Disney+.
