The decision to cast Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars animated series has served the galaxy far, far away well over the past decade, if for nothing besides the fact that she was evidently the only reasonable choice to play the live-action version of her character too. After donning the beskar armor in real life on the second season of The Mandalorian, Katee is returning next year as a recurring lead for the next chapter of this spiraling adventure.
Appearing for the “Mando+: A Conversation with Jon Favreau & Dave Filoni” panel during Star Wars Celebration 2022, Sackhoff has recently explained what Bo-Katan personally means to her.
Her head is still attached to her body so that’s a good thing. I’ve said this before, my dad raised me on science fiction. He raised me on strong characters. When I was little, you didn’t have a lot of strong female characters to choose from. We had Sigourney and Linda and Lucy Lawless but I wanted to be Bruce Willis. I wanted to save a building. To be able to play the women that I have been able to play throughout my career has been such a gift and strong women keep presenting themselves to me.
She also gave Star Wars fans a little tease as to what they can expect from the duchess’ sister now that she’s almost guaranteed to butt heads with Din Djarin and Baby Yoda.
These guys at the end of the table are responsible for creating so many strong characters. The fact that they’re women, they’re just women. To be able to start with her 10 years ago and the fact that they trusted me to take her into live-action, I’m still pinching myself. The fact that you guys love her, flaws and all, means the world. Thank you. You’re in for a treat.
Bo-Katan’s only life objective right now is to sit on the Mandalorian throne and give her people a voice. Without the Darksaber, however, the character has no claim to rule over Mandalorians, even despite her heritage as a member of the Kryze clan. That’s where things get complicated for Mando, who’s currently the rightful owner of the Darksaber after winning it from Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian season 2 finale.
Djarin and Kryze are smart enough to figure out a compromise that doesn’t end in one of them getting killed, though according to reports by fans who saw a sneak peek of season 3 the day before yesterday, a confrontation between the two might be inevitable at this point.