Katee Sackhoff is no stranger to the small screen. Having played Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, she excels at big fight scenes and intimate character moments. But what about adapting a character typically voiced in a sound booth? According to The Mandalorian’s latest guest star, that comes with its own set of obstacles.
“I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was,” Sackhoff told /Film of playing Bo-Katan Kryze in live-action. “I don’t want to say hard, but I thought that it would be seamless. I thought that I would just fold right into her because I played her for so long, and that wasn’t the case. I had to pause and actually go, ‘Oh my gosh, how does she move?’ And that took a beat.”
[referenced id=”1530779″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/11/the-mandalor-mandalore-needs/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19/vuprteizje1pyxalrdjt-300×124.png” title=”The Mand’alor Mandalore Needs” excerpt=”The arrival of Bo-Katan Kryze on The Mandalorian is perhaps an example of Star Wars fanservice done most right by the show: without knowing who she was, Bo-Katan could easily be read by the audience as a new character, like the Armorer and Din Djarin himself. But for those who…”]
Previously, Sackhoff had brought the Mandalore fighter to life as a major presence in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, but just a few weeks ago she came into the world of The Mandalorian in the season two episode “The Heiress.” Bo-Katan revealed she was in pursuit of the Darksaber, which is currently being wielded by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). In the interview with /Film, Sackhoff shared how she was psyched to physically bring Bo-Katan to life and thought it would be relatively simple — given how long she played the character — but soon came to realise she was in a whole new galaxy.
“The animated [performance] is very different, because you sit in a booth, you jump and move around and make your face do all kinds of things to get the type of inflection that you need for certain things. You get to play around. In live-action, you have to be very conscious of what the character would actually do,” she said. “For me, I move way too much. My hands never stop, and my face never stops moving. For better or worse, I’m a very expressive person, and that’s just not who Bo-Katan is. So I had to learn how to move like her, which was daunting, and I wasn’t prepared for that.”
Bo-Katan is clearly a Mandalorian on a mission, but it’s unclear whether we’ll see her again this season. Regardless of her future on the series, she’s not the only animated character crossover we’re expecting to come across in this season of The Mandalorian, as Rosario Dawson is believed to soon be making her debut as the legendary Jedi warrior Ahsoka Tano. However, unlike Sackoff’s performance dilemma, Ahsoka was originally voiced by Ashley Eckstein, which gives Dawson room to make the role her own.
The Mandalorian season two is currently airing on Disney+.
[referenced id=”1233983″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/07/our-hero-katee-sackhoff-on-robot-chicken-the-new-bsg-and-that-wacky-accent-she-did-on-the-flash/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/25/zscn0xqdxkfyri1j8dc7-e1595807748154-300×181.jpg” title=”Our Hero Katee Sackhoff on Robot Chicken, the New BSG, and That Wacky Accent She Did on The Flash” excerpt=”When most people think of Katee Sackhoff, one word comes to mind: Starbuck. But she’s actually had a surprisingly diverse career, playing not just action heroes like .”]