One surprise within the first season of the “Star Wars” series “Ashoka” was the appearance of Claudia Black, the fan-favorite Australian actress from the likes of “Farscape,” “Stargate: SG-1” and films like “Pitch Black”.
Black had a small role as Klothow, the leader of the three Great Mothers – the red-robed Nightsisters who had allied with Grand Admiral Thrawn on Peridea and eventually made their way back to Dathomir.
The characters are expected to show up again in the second season, but Bleeding Cool reports that Black won’t be returning to her role because of pay issues and the shifting of the film’s location shoot, but remains grateful for her time in the “Star Wars” universe:
“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.’
It’s very sad to not be able to continue that at the end of the day. They call it ‘show business’ for a reason. It’s like 90% business and 10% show. They could not, sadly, support a single mom, and I’m very sad about that, but I also understand market forces being what they are, and the very delicate time in the business to even be able to afford to make anything at all. We all had to do our sums and move on.”
The first season was shot at Manhattan Beach Studios in Los Angeles, where multiple “Star Wars” productions have been shot.
The core cast of the series are all returning including Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati, Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger, Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, with David Tennant as Huyang and Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn. Rory McCann will take over the role of Baylan Skoll from the late Ray Stevenson.
“Ahsoka” will return to screens in 2026.
