Baylan Skoll needs to be in Tales of The Jedi
By Aidan Burns
Tales of the Jedi is set to premiere its second season by next year. After a well-received first season, Lucasfilm has announced that the mini-series will be returning on Disney+. Season 1 featured many short stories set during and before the prequel trilogy. The chosen stories were as short as 15 minutes but contained meaningful lessons with characters that were already beloved by many.
Since then, Lucasfilm released Ahsoka, a project that ultimately lived up to its anticipation and was a huge hit with the Star Wars fan base. The series featured many returning characters, as well as a few new ones as well. One of those being the infamous Baylan Skoll. Skoll was a rogue Jedi who lived through the days of the empire as a mercenary for hire. After the fall of Palpatine, he was hired by Morgan Elsbeth to assist her in her journey to find the lost Grand Admiral Thrawn and bring him to his throne as Heir to the Empire.
Throughout the series, we learned more about Skoll, his origins, and his vision of the future. Unfortunately, after the season finale, we still have questions regarding what Baylan was doing on Peridia and who he could potentially be working with.
After the unfortunate passing of Ray Stevenson, the future of Baylan Skoll remains unclear, especially in live action. However, with much more to tell about Skoll, including his past, present, and future, Tales of the Jedi is the perfect place to shed further light on the character during any point of his eventful life. Additionally, since the series is set in The Clone Wars–style animation, a physical actor will not be needed to fill the role. Only the voice will be provided during the episodes.
Season one of Tales of the Jedi focused on stories specifically around the prequel trilogy. If Lucasfilm were to go this route, then we could finally get a glimpse of Baylan as a Jedi. Given that Disney loves to show flashbacks of Order 66 in almost all of their recent content, it’s entirely possible that we could see an episode dedicated to Skoll surviving and fleeing Order 66, setting up his future as a feared mercenary.
On the other end, if Lucasfilm were to be bold and branch the series out to all eras on the Star Wars timeline, then perhaps Lucasfilm could use the series to give a proper and honorable conclusion to Stevenson’s character, taking place right after the events of Ahsoka. In addition, Tales of the Jedi could also fill a few more gaps by including stories featuring Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren in their new home for the foreseeable future.
Seeing Ahsoka, Sabine, and Baylan Skoll in The Clone Wars-style animation, following up the events of a live-action series would certainly be an adjustment, given that follow-ups typically don’t occur this way. Still, it would also be a brilliant form of long-term storytelling. The creator of both Ahsoka and Tales of the Jedi, Dave Filoni isn’t one to back down from telling stories fans want to see.
While replacing Stevenson’s character in live-action seems a little bit out-of-touch, reviving the character in animation would be a decent compromise and also a great way to further and even conclude Baylan Skoll’s story. While he may be gone, his contributions to the Star Wars universe will not be forgotten. Hopefully, Lucasfilm will take this opportunity to continue an excellent story and honor an amazing actor.