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- Claudia Black, who starred in ‘Ahsoka’, won’t return for season 2 due to pay disagreements linked to single motherhood costs
- She cited Disney’s inability to provide a salary allowing her to balance filming in London while managing her LA-based responsibilities
- Black expressed sadness over stepping away and gratitude towards the show’s creator, Dave Filoni, for the opportunity
A Star Wars actor has ‘had to bow out’ of the second spin-off series, Ahsoka, because of a dispute over salary.
Claudia Black played villain Nightsister Klothow in season 1 of the space fantasy show, but she won’t be returning.
The series follows former Jedi Knight, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), who was introduced in the 2008 animated film, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Her story continued in the TV shows The Clone Wars and Rebels, before the live-action Ahsoka series on Disney Plus picked things up in 2023.
Black put her reasons for leaving Ahsoka down to pay, explaining that she needs a salary that allows her to film in London, while taking care of things back home as a single mother in Los Angeles.
In an interview with the comic book news publication Bleeding Cool, she said: ‘I’m going to be transparent.
‘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.’
Her character is one of three witches awoken from a slumber by Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), to whom they offer their dark magic.
Black, who is also known for her role as Aeryn Sun in the late 90s sci-fi series Farscape, referenced one of her children in the interview. She mentioned how it was fun to do something that was relatable to him, as he was a fan of The Clone Wars.
The actor also played Vala Mal Doran in the military science fiction series Stargate, and has achieved success as a voice actor for video games like Dragon Age and Uncharted.
Addressing her exit from Ahsoka, she stated: ‘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.’
The actor explained that she was very grateful to the show’s creator, Dave Filoni, whom she thanked over email after making the decision to call it a day.
The second season of Ahsoka finished filming in October. If the wait between the end of filming and the show airing is anything like the first season, we can expect the second outing to come to our screens in the late summer of 2026.
The first season of Ahsoka ended with Grand Admiral Thawn (Lars Mikkelsen) escaping back to the main galaxy after Ahsoka and her allies failed to stop him.
Metro has reached out to Lucasfilm, Disney and Claudia Black for comment.
Ahsoka series one is available to stream on Disney Plus.
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