Katee Sackhoff is spilling why her appearance as Bo-Katan worked so well.
The former Battlestar Galactica star opened up on how it felt reprising the Mandalorian warrior’s role in live-action on The Mandalorian, where she hopes the character goes and discusses the all-female fighting squad scene from the finale.
Bo’s return
Sackhoff first voiced the role of Bo-Katan for the Clone Wars cartoon. Part of Clan Kryze, Bo-Katan was the younger sister of Duchess Satine, the ruler of Mandalore.
While Satine was more a pacifist, Bo embraced her warrior side, which led to conflict yet loyalty between the sisters. Sackhoff would return to voice the role in the Star Wars Rebels animated series as Bo-Katan is now fighting to free Mandalore from Imperial forces.
Bo-Katan made a dramatic return in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, saving Din from an ambush. She surprised him by removing his helmet, supposedly a violation of Mandalorian traditions, only to reveal that Din belongs to a sect that holds to traditions other Mandalorians have let go of.
Talking to Looper, Sackhoff admitted that going from simply voicing Bo-Katan to playing the part in live-action was a bigger challenge than she expected.
“I’ve said before that I thought I was more prepared than I was. Because I played the character for so long, it was actually, in the beginning, a little bit of a disservice because I thought I was more prepared than I was. I knew the character, I memorized my dialogue, I was ready. And then I got to the set, and I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ I’ve never walked as her. I’ve never moved as her. How does Bo-Katan sit? I don’t know anything.”
The all-female squad
A highlight of the Season 2 finale of the Mandalorian was Din gathering allies to attack an Imperial transport to save Grogu aka Baby Yoda.
This meant Bo-Katan teaming up with Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado aka WWE star Sasha Banks), Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), and Cara Dune (Gina Carano, who was fired from the show over troubling online messages).
Sackhoff discussed the impact of the scene and why it worked so well for the fans.
“The reason why that scene at the end of Mandalorian worked was they didn’t talk about the fact that they were women. They were just the best people for the job, and they were there. And they did it, and they succeeded. We didn’t stop to be like, ‘Female power, woo-hoo! You take the lead because you’re the prettiest!’ You know what I mean? This was just the crew that was available.”
“And I think that what’s changed, not only the genre but in our industry, is that we don’t feel like we have to quantify a female’s existence anymore by saying, “Well, she’s a woman, she’s a ‘strong female character.'” We don’t have to do that anymore. Now, it’s just like, “Isn’t that awesome to watch? Holy crap, that was amazing.” That’s not to take away from and negate the fact that they’re obviously women. I think that’s what’s changed the most in the industry — we have so many amazing women to watch.”
Bo-Katan’s future
Like many fans, Sackhoff would love to see Bo-Katan return but isn’t sure how it will happen.
The season 2 finale ended with Bo-Katan losing the Darksaber and headed into space on a new mission. Sackhoff acknowledges that Bo herself is having a difficult time deciding her new path.
She wasn’t necessarily on the right side of things. She thought she was. I think she’s always had her people in mind. But her growth to get to where she’s at has been quite dramatic. So how do you take a person who is trained as a warrior, who never thought that they would have to lead nor wanted to lead, and get them to a place where they have to lead because it’s for the people? And I find that to be so interesting, because I think that she is a warrior at heart. That’s who she is. That’s who she’s always been, and we haven’t seen that part of her yet. I want to see why she thinks she’s the right ruler, and how far she’ll go, and what that looks like.
Just because you think you’re right and just because you think you’re the right person to rule, that doesn’t mean you actually are. So I want to see that struggle because if she really does care about her people, she may not be the right person. I think there are so many different places to go, so we’ll have to see what those guys have in their minds.
Among the reported Disney Star Wars shows is Rangers of the Republic, but it’s uncertain if this would involve Bo-Katan and her crew.
Whatever the future holds, Sackhoff is happy to have brought Bo-Katan to life for fans and would gladly slap on the Mandalorian armor once again.
The Mandalorian streaming on Disney+.