Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan in the Star Wars universe, thought the role would be recast for The Mandalorian, expecting it to go to a bigger star like Scarlett Johansson. The 40-year-old actor is best known for her role as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in Battlestar Galactica and is a household name for sci-fi TV fans. However, Sackhoff's public profile beyond that genre is limited, despite an acting CV that includes almost 60 credits. She's appeared in shows like The Flash and Robot Chicken and has voiced Sarah Hall in the Call of Duty game series.
Sackhoff has also become an integral part of the Star Wars universe over the past decade, thanks to her role as Bo-Katan Kryze. She voiced the character in Star Wars: The Clones Wars as well as Star Wars Rebels and joined the cast of The Mandalorian season 2 to portray Bo-Katan in live-action for the first time, an experience she admitted was emotional. Sackhoff's appearance was one of the highlights of the show for Star Wars fans, as it connected the Disney+ series to the wider canon established by the animated shows. But Sackhoff says she didn't think she'd ever get the chance to play the character in live-action, expecting the role to be recast.
Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast Inside of You, Sackhoff talks about how surprised she was to be cast in The Mandalorian. Sackhoff says she thought a bigger star would get the role, joking Johansson was probably the best choice. As a result, Sackhoff says she couldn't quite believe it when showrunner Jon Favreau called her about appearing as Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian. Sackhoff explains:
I’ve had a beautiful career and there have been great things. But, I’ve seen people around me get that big, huge, massive thing and you go "Wow, so proud of them, so excited for them. It’s amazing, ’cause if it happens to someone else, there’s still hope, right, that it can happen to you? But, it never happened to me, like that big, huge thing had never happened, so I always joked, "of course they’ll recast it, they’ll probably hire Scarlett Johansson." But when Mandalorian came out and I saw [Dave Filoni] at [Star Wars] Celebration. I made a joke about Bo-Katan, ya know, "wink wink, nudge, nudge." I’ve been playing characters like this for 15 years, buddy. I never really thought it would happen. I was just sort of joking. It was this moment where I was always just joking and when a phone call came in that Jon Favreau wanted to sit down with me, I almost had a heart attack. It took me halfway through that meeting that he was actually talking about me doing Bo-Katan. I remember sitting across from him, just this total out-of-body experience, thinking, "Oh, those are pictures of me on the wall." What is happening? I still to this day, I’m still pinching myself. My mind is blown. They believed that I could and they ultimately let me.
Sackhoff's humility is surprising, given she's already had a career stretching back for two decades and is a bona fide sci-fi icon, even having played herself in two episodes of The Big Bang Theory. But it's also a sign of just how big The Mandalorian is that Sackhoff believed a major movie star would likely be cast in the role. However, it didn't turn out that way, and Sackhoff is now part of one of the most exciting TV shows of all time.
Despite having only appeared in two episodes of The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan is expected to return for season 3. There has been no confirmation, but the season 2 finale set up a potential plot line for The Mandalorian season 3 involving the Darksaber, which the character has a long history with. If that story is followed, Sackhoff will likely be given more of a chance to shine in The Mandalorian season 3 and may raise her profile enough to get that "big, huge, massive thing" she talks about in the podcast.
Source: Inside of You