Claudia Black is best known for her roles in Pitch Black, Farscape, and Stargate SG-1, and she added to her sci-fi credentials in 2023 by travelling to a Galaxy Far, Far Away in Ahsoka.
The actress played one of the three Great Mothers, Klothow, a group of Nightsisters who had allied with Grand Admiral Thrawn on Peridea and eventually made their way back to Dathomir. It appears Thrawn plans to use the power of the Nightsisters to raise an undead army he can use to retake the Galaxy after the Empire's fall.
Unfortunately, we've leaned that Black won't be back to continue Klothow's story in Ahsoka Season 2.
Talking to Bleeding Cool (via SFFGazette.com), Black was asked about the series and offered a "transparent" answer: she isn't coming back, because Disney and Lucasfilm weren't willing to pay her what she wanted or needed.
"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," the actress revealed. "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 was extraordinary. It was a fun, playful space to be in, and people who wanted to be there were excited to be part of the Star Wars universe," she continued. "It's fun to do something that was relatable to my younger son, who was passionate about The Clone Wars, which was the new iteration for his generation."
"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," Black added. "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 Ahsoka alum brings up a lot of interesting points here; should Disney have been willing to pay more to support Black as a single mother, or was the studio right to only offer what they would presumably give any other actress in the role, regardless of personal circumstances?
Either way, that's sadly the last we've seen of Black's take on Klothow, and it's currently unclear whether the role has been recast or the character simply won't appear again. The former option seems more likely, though, as she was positioned as the leader of this trio and Thrawn's confidante.
Ahsoka Season 2 stars 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, Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll, with David Tennant as Huyang and Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn.
The series is expected to return to Disney+ in 2026.