The cast of the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka show continues to grow, this time with a Marvel and Star Wars alum. Ray Stevenson, who voiced Gar Saxon on Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars, as well as played Volstagg in the Thor films, is reportedly joining Rosario Dawson in a galaxy far, far away. And we think we know who he’ll be playing.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the likely casting and that that he’s playing an admiral. But not that admiral. “Sources say he is a villain in the series and will play an admiral… although, not Thrawn,” the trade writes.
But if Stevenson is not Thrawn, who could he be? Of course, his previous Star Wars character, Mandalorian warrior Gar Saxon, is dead, so it can’t be him. Our guess? Gilad Pellaeon, Thrawn’s right-hand man from Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. Those books were removed from canon years ago, but in the Star Wars Rebels finale, Pellaeon is name-dropped — and around the time of the finale, Rebels creator Dave Filoni confirmed to Gizmodo that he’s still alive.
“Even though his radio transmission gets cut off there, I’m not trying to say that Pellaeon would be dead,” Filoni said back in 2018. “I don’t think that’s it for him. I would like to see other stories with the guy.” And guess who’s making this show? The guy who told us he wants to see other stories with Gilad Pellaeon.
“I just wanted to mention the name so it gets in there, so it’s something people can use,” Filoni continued. “And sometimes that’s what I can do for things that come out of Legends. I could create just another captain with some name there or I could put someone like Pellaeon in play. And then maybe he gets picked up in comics or novels, I don’t know. But I think that would be kind of fun to do, and it’s a way to get that idea rolling.”
And yes, Pellaeon was a captain, but years have passed. It seems fairly obvious he could now be an admiral. Of course, it’s not confirmed but looks very likely that Ahsoka will pick up at the end of that Star Wars Rebels finale. That’s when Ahsoka grabbed Sabine Wren (here likely to be played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo) to go and find their Jedi friend Ezra Bridger, who was last seen with Grand Admiral Thrawn. There’s also the fact that Ahsoka mentions she’s looking for Thrawn during The Mandalorian season two.
Star Wars: Ahsoka will start shooting in April. We’d imagine it’ll be on Disney+ sometime next year.