5 Actors Who Could Be the Next Baylan Skoll

 

Image Credit: Disney+

Season 1 of the latest Star Wars series Ahsoka is over and for my money, the best character of the show was antagonist Baylan Skoll. Sadly, the actor who portrayed Baylan, Ray Stevenson, died shortly before the series debuted. Far from being written off, his character is front and center in the biggest cliffhanger of the last episode, leaving a dilemma for Season 2. You can’t leave Skoll out of the upcoming storyline. So how do you recast such a well-acted and central character as Baylan Skoll? I don’t think anyone can replace the excellent work of Ray Stevenson, but there are some actors who might be able to step into his Jedi boots and do him justice. Here are my Top 5 picks for Disney and showrunner Dave Filoni to consider. 

Image Credit: Gerhard Kassner

Clive Owen

My favorite pick is English actor Clive Owen. He’s almost the same age, has a similar deep voice, similar stature, resembles Stevenson a bit, and most importantly, has proven himself to be a good actor in such films as Children of Men, Inside Man, The Bourne Identity, and Sin City. Rumor is he was once a front runner for James Bond before Daniel Craig won the part in 2005. He’s done some series work in the past few years. Perhaps a role in the Star Wars universe is in his future.

Image Credit: Rebecca Bana

Eric Bana

Australian actor Eric Bana is almost the same age as Stevenson, nearly identical in height, and he has the deep, raspy voice the character of Baylan Skoll calls for. Bana could add Star Wars to an acting resume that already includes Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Munich, Star Trek, and my favorite of his performances, the doomed warrior Hector in Troy.

Image Credit: AMC

Pierce Brosnan

If Filoni wants to stick with a fellow Irishman to follow in Stevenson’s footsteps, 90s’James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan might be a good choice. He’s a couple inches shorter than Stevenson and over a decade older, but he’s still in remarkable shape. He’s starred in plenty of great projects. Besides four Bond films, he was also in Mrs. Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Tailor of Panama, and even played a bad guy in the recent Dwayne Johnson superhero film Black Adam.

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Dolph Lundgren

This might be a bit of a stretch, but if Filoni wants a match for Stevenson’s stature and deep-set, menacing eyes, he could go with Dolph Lundgren. At 6’5” Lundgren is even taller than Stevenson and the Swede knows his way around playing violent men. He’s played one in plenty of films including The Expendables series, Johnny Mnemonic, Universal Soldier, and most famously, Rocky IV as the towering Russian boxer Ivan Drago.   

Image Credit: Filmweb

Götz Otto

If you want a choice completely out of left field, how about German actor Götz Otto? He’s been in a ton of movies and series, but given that most of them were overseas, the name might not ring a bell. What you probably WILL remember him for is his role as the towering henchman Stamper in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. At 6’6”, he’s the tallest actor on this list and if Stamper was any indication, he knows how to quietly intimidate on screen.

 

Who is your pick to take over the role of Baylan Skoll? Have an actor in mind that isn’t on this list? Share it in the commentsavbe.

The Importance of a Good Villain

 

Image Credit: Disney+

There isn’t a whole lot on TV that I’m enjoying at the moment, but at least one exception is the latest Star Wars offering on Disney+, Ahsoka. This week’s fourth episode was the best so far and a large part of that success is the increased focus on the villains. Now I’m not suggesting that the collective girl power of the title character, her sidekick Sabine Wren, and her ally Hera Syndulla doesn’t have its own appeal, but the best thing about the show is the pair of villains, Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati. Recently deceased actor Ray Stevenson brings a menacing dignity to Skoll and actress Ivanna Sakhno delivers a ferocity to Skoll’s apprentice Hati that demands attention. It got me thinking about the importance of a good villain in just about any speculative story.

Stories, whether they’re short, novels, or screenplays tend to focus on a main character who serves as the hero. He or she may not start off as heroic, but over the course of their journey, they grow to become that way. They rise to the challenge. What often sets apart a good story and a great one is the quality of that challenge, the hero’s opponent. Who is Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader? Clarice Starling without Hannibal Lecter? John McClane without Hans Gruber?

I’ll go so far as to suggest we as an audience often root for the villain. Not because we really believe they’re going to win, or even should, but because they’re so fun to watch. I’ll freely admit that I much prefer Wile E. Coyote to the Road Runner or Tom to Jerry. I’m happy for the Fellowship of the Ring, but it bums me out that both Sauron and Gollum had to die in order for them to succeed.

An intriguing villain often makes or breaks a story. It doesn’t matter how much we love the hero, if that hero isn’t faced with an equally great bad guy, the tale just falls a bit flat. As a writer, I try to keep this in mind as I plan a story. Who is my hero up against? What is that villain’s motivation? What sets apart that villain from your standard thug with a gun or big muscles and a bad attitude? If I don’t spend as much time fleshing out that villain as I do my protagonist, the result often suffers.

Sadly, the fact that Ray Stevenson died shortly before Ahsoka premiered means we won’t see more of Baylan Skoll after Episode 8 next month no matter what series creator Dave Filoni planned. I’ll miss the character, but the fallen Jedi’s quality and his lasting impression is a fitting conclusion to the resume of an actor who stole more than a few shows with his ability and charm.