The Mandalorian: Katee Sackhoff to play live-action version of Bo-Katan

Look, for a show called “The Mandalorian”, singular, you would think we would only ever see one of Star Wars’ famous armour-wearing warriors. However, Disney is seemingly on a quest to show ’em all! Besides for Pedro Pascal’s titular gunslinging bounty hunter Din Djarin, we’ve already heard that the upcoming second season of the live-action Star Wars show will probably be getting a couple more famous Mandalorians in the form of Boba Fett – the OG Star Wars Mandalorian – and a live-action version of Star Wars Rebels’ Sabine Wren (not to mention a live-action version of Ahsoka Tano). But that’s still not enough famous Mandalorians for Disney though.

According to /Film, Battlestar Galactica alum and all-around sci-fi badass Katee Sackhoff has been cast to bring to life another animated character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels’ Bo-Katan Kryze. Both Disney and Sackhoff’s reps have refused to offer official confirmation, but /Film has reportedly verified the information via multiple sources. They’ve also learned that the fan-favourite Sackhoff has already filmed her role back in February before the COVID-19 shutdown, so everything is good to go. And this is about as perfect a bit of casting as you can get as Sackhoff actually voiced Bo-Katan in all her animated appearances.

Now get ready to read some Star Wars lore so that I can explain why Bo-Katan’s appearance here will actually be a big deal. If you don’t feel like getting all geeky, then look away now.

Originally debuting in the fourth season of The Clone Wars, Bo-Katan was a lieutenant in Death Watch, the radical Mandalorian terrorist group run by Pre Vizla (voiced by none other than The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau). Death Watch would take over the rule of Mandalore after mounting a coup against Bo-Katan’s pacifist sister Satine, the Duchess of Mandalore. However, the fall of the group began when Death Watch came across Darth Maul after his death-defying escape from Naboo, and the Sith eventually took over the group after he killed Vizla in combat and claimed the latter’s iconic weapon – the Darksaber – for himself. This essentially made Maul the ruler of Mandalore. Bo-Katan refused to accept his rule and assisted the Jedi to overthrow Maul after a protracted Civil War. While Satine – who Obi-Wan Kenobi had a romantic relationship with – would be killed by Maul during the battle, the Sith master would eventually be ousted with Bo-Katan claiming the Darksaber and Mandalore’s rule. She would lose that rule though when she refused to follow the newly appointed Emperor Palpatine.

Years later, after the Empire had taken over Mandalore, Bo-Katan would link up with Star Wars Rebels’ Sabine Wren, who had returned to Mandalore to assist her clan in freeing their homeworld from Imperial rule. Sabine had retrieved the Darksaber from the Nightsister lair on Dathomir, Maul’s homeworld, and after training with it she used it in a new Mandalorian civil war to claim leadership of the warrior race. However, Sabine would turn the Darksaber over to Bo-Katan, with Clan Wren believing her to be most worthy of wielding it and leading the Mandalorians in the fight against the Empire.

That’s where the story of Bo-Katan and the Darksaber left off… until the first season finale of The Mandalorian when Giancarlo Esposito’s villainous Imperial Moff Gideon was suddenly revealed to be in possession of the Darksaber. This was a huge shock to fans, but just how did he get it and what happened to Bo-Katan in the intervening years? And if Sabine is involved, how will she handle the Empire being in possession of that legendary weapon she fought so hard to reclaim for her people?

Well, those are just some of the questions that the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian will seemingly finally be answering when it debuts on Disney+ in October 2020. And yes, it will definitely hit that date despite all the shutdowns. That’s according to Disney’s recently appointed new CEO Bob Chapek who definitively told CNBC that “there will be no delay on Mandalorian”. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as confident about the planned Marvel TV series though. Oy vey! At least we’ll have a lot of Star Wars action to keep us distracted!

Last Updated: May 13, 2020