The Hollywood Reporter are exclusively reporting that Ray Stevenson has been cast in the upcoming Ahsoka series, and will play a villainous role.

THR did not reveal many specifics of the character Stevenson will be portraying, but added his role is that of an admiral, however the outlet stressed he is not Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has long been rumoured to be the central villain in the upcoming series.

Elsewhere in THR’s report they mention that Ahsoka is currently looking to film at the end of April, confirming what I reported earlier this week, that Ahsoka will film later in April, weeks after The Mandalorian season three wraps up. Ahoksa will film at Manhattan Beach Studios for the vast majority of its production, but will likely also make use of train yard location in Los Angeles used for all three seasons of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was told filming for Ahsoka will run into late 2022, and would be looking to release sometime in 2023.

Stevenson isn’t a stranger to the Star Wars galaxy as he’s previously played Gar Saxon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, but he’s probably best known for starring in History’s hit TV series, Vikings, as Othere and for starring in the Starz series, Black Sails, as Blackbeard, as well as playing Volstagg in all three of Marvel Studios’ Thor movies.

Stevenson joins a growing cast for The Mandalorian spin-off that boasts Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as the fan-favourite Sabine Wren, as well as Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ivanna Sakhno in unknown roles. The limited-series is being written by Dave Filoni, who will also executive produce alongside Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. It is currently unknown if Filoni will direct the entire series, or if it’ll mimic other ‘Mandoverse’ titles and have a collection of directors.