Ahsoka Season 2 is moving on without one of its Nightsisters. Claudia Black, who portrayed Klothow, the leader of a group of Force-sensitive “witches” in Season 1, “had to bow out” of Season 2 due to pay disputes. Amid rumors of Ahsoka now working with a smaller budget, it seems like the Star Wars series is working to cut corners wherever it can, even where its cast is concerned.
“They could not, sadly, support a single mom,” Black recently told Bleeding Cool. “[Lucasfilm] picked up Season 2, 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.”
While Ahsoka Season 1 was filmed in Los Angeles, Season 2 will be produced in London, one of a handful of decisions made to reduce the show’s budget. That choice made things tough for actors like Black, and while she admits the decision to leave the show was a difficult one, “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.”
There’s no telling if the Ahsoka team plans to recast Black’s role, but it would make sense to maintain some continuity in Season 2. Klothow is one of a trio of Nightsisters who serve Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkeslen), a formidable Imperial leader exiled in a distant galaxy. Their magic is instrumental in bringing Thrawn back home, and they even secure him an undead army of zombified stormtroopers. At the end of Ahsoka’s first season, they’re by Thrawn’s side as he puts his master plan into action.
The Nightsisters might be minor characters, but the group has plenty of potential, and Season 2 will hopefully give them more to do. Ahsoka has the chance to take a niche aspect of Star Wars lore — and one of the most intriguing features of Season 1 — and finally capitalize on its potential. That said, it’s a shame that Black won’t be bringing Klothow to life. The series is struggling to find its way forward, but it shouldn’t have to lose cast members to help it move on.
