Star Wars: Ahsoka Villain Ray Stevenson Explains the Real-World Power of the Force (Exclusive)

Not too long ago, Ray Stevenson was suiting up as Frank Castle in Punisher: War Zone. Now that he’s had a taste of comic book media, the actor is joining the live-action side of the Star Wars universe. Having previously voiced characters in Lucasfilm’s animated offerings, Stevenson is appearing in the flesh as the villain in Ahsoka as a Force-sensitive character named Baylan Skoll. Speaking with the Star Wars newcomer at Star Wars Celebration on Saturday, Stevenson says there’s nothing like wielding the Force on set.

“There comes that moment where you raise him up and they’re gone,” Stevenson says of “using” the Force in real life. “You come away pinching yourself thinking ‘I’m actually in this now.’”

He adds, “It becomes hyper-real to you. You dress a certain way and the fights that get worked out, you think, ‘Oh this is real,’ and to chew it up and see the response today. It’s bigger than us.”

That’s when the actor says fans are the lifeblood of the franchise, and they give the creatives behind the series enough fuel to get work down at the highest caliber.

“It’s for them. It’s for the fans and it keeps you humble, and it keeps you wanting to work as hard as you can,” Stevenson continues. “Everybody [on Ahsoka] works as hard as they can from the writers on down. There’s a humility of greatness where you can’t wait to get into work the next day and beast it.”

When Does Ahsoka Take Place?

According to Lucasfilm mastermind Dave Filoni, Ahsoka takes place in the same general era as the other Star Wars shows such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Skeleton Crew.

“It’s an interesting way to think about it,” Filoni told The Wrap earlier this year. “I tend to think, as we’ve been working on The Mandalorian and then writing Ahsoka, and then Jon Watts came in with Skeleton Crew, there is an entire time period that is post-Return of the Jedi. And I look at that time period, which before The Force Awakens, is around 30 years of time. When you look at the original trilogy, it’s a much less significant amount of time that those three movies take place in. And so, what I like is that we’re really building very slowly an ecosystem of characters and politics and events in the post-Return of the Jedi time period. And that may or may not expand in a bigger way as we add more shows to it and add more characters to it.” 

Star Wars: Ahsoka is expected to debut on Disney+ at some point in 2023. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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