Ahsoka Season 2 is currently expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2026, three years after Season 1 concluded. While Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eman Esfandi, Ivanna Sakhno, Lars Mikkelsen, and Hayden Christensen will return, Pitch Black and Stargate SG-1 star Claudia Black will not.
Speaking with Bleeding Cool, Black, who played Nightsister leader Mother Klothow in Ahoska Season 1, revealed that a pay dispute with Disney kept her from traveling to London to shoot the upcoming season. Admitting she’s unhappy about the way things worked out, Black thanked Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni for her time in the Star Wars universe, and explained what the franchise has meant to her:
“Well, I’m going to be transparent. They picked up season two, picked me up with it, and then Disney, which is structuring things differently these days, could not pay me what I needed to be paid as a single mother to keep all my responsibilities going at home in Los Angeles, because they were filming in London. It was not something that they could make happen, and therefore, I had to bow out for season two.
It was very sad for me. I sent an email to Dave Filoni thanking him, and I said, “What a ride!” Everyone like me who grew up in the 70s and 80s has always been into the Star Wars universe, and it’s a very playful environment to work in. I’m grateful that I got to be in that universe, lovely people, lovely directors, interesting to work on ‘The Volume.’ Their particular set, which is full of technology that George Lucas had dreamed about and talked about, and people thought he was crazy to suddenly be in that technology, see it working in real time, and talk to the company that had realized that technology.”
Disney Has Been Shifting Its Priorities with ‘Star Wars’
It’s currently unclear whether Mother Klothow will be recast for Ashoka Season 2, or simply written out of the series. This is the second major casting change that Ahsoka Season 2 has faced, but under very different circumstances: Roy McCann is stepping into the role of Baylan Skoll after the previous actor, Ray Stevenson, passed away shortly before Season 1 premiered in 2023.
Black’s comments about Disney restructuring certainly speak to a larger trend at the company, one that’s seen the studio tightening its spending. Being tight with money is nothing new for the Mouse House — as Marvel fans will no doubt recall, both Jeremy Renner and Carrie Coon have spoken about how Disney tried to lowball them on returning for MCU projects.
In another cost-cutting measure, Disney seems to be moving expensive properties like the MCU and Star Wars out of streaming and back to theaters. While there are a few MCU series in development, at the moment, Ahsoka Season 2 is the only confirmed live-action Star Wars series. They’re now moving forward with more feature films, including scrapping The Mandalorian Season 4 in favor of The Mandalorian & Grogu, which will be followed by Star Wars: Starfighter and the Daisy Ridley-led Rey film in development.
- Release Date
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August 22, 2023
- Network
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Disney+
- Directors
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Steph Green, Jennifer Getzinger, Peter Ramsey, Rick Famuyiwa