Katee Sackhoff’s Disappointing Hollywood Experience Became Her Greatest Asset For The Mandalorian – “really hard to find doubles”

The Star Wars world has been winning over audiences since its inception. Much like many of its shows, The Mandalorian has also contributed to expanding its universe and has introduced new faces and seasoned characters in the galaxy far, far away.

Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze has been one of the new faces who got both the audience’s love and critical acclaim. Although getting to be this kind of warrior was not easy for Sackhoff at all, her initial career disappointments somehow helped her to get into the character authentically.

How Early Struggles Prepared Katee Sackhoff for The Mandalorian

Katee Sackhoff made her impact in the sci-fi world after appearing in the Battlestar Galactica series as Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace. This was a perfect stepping stone to her career, as it gave her the opportunity to prove her ability to portray strong female characters in science fiction.

Sackhoff’s journey with Star Wars started much earlier than The Mandalorian. She voiced Bo-Katan Kryze in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels and was attached to the character for almost a decade.

When Jon Favreau decided to introduce Bo-Katan into the live-action series, Sackhoff was the obvious candidate for the role. She knew the character’s background well enough and seemed a natural fit. However, the process of creating the animated character in live-action came with its own challenges.

But Sackhoff’s struggles during her early days came to the rescue. Back in the day, the actress had difficulties looking for stunt doubles because of her size and had to do almost all of her stunts by herself. Sackhoff revealed to Starwars.com,

When I started in this industry, it was really hard to find doubles to match me. You know, I was always just slightly bigger than most of the women around that were actors at the time and the stunt doubles, they just couldn’t find anyone. I was doubled by a man at one point. It was literally me doing my own stunts because the match was not perfect, and I wanted it to look believable.

Sackhoff’s past experience made her fighting style uniquely her own. The action sequences demanded stunts as well as convincing acting, and Sackhoff was able to pull that off authentically as she was doing all of that. The actress also revealed that she has a “wicked knee slide” and doesn’t miss a chance to do that.

Katee Sackhoff’s Experience While Filming The Mandalorian

Despite her preparation, Sackhoff said on some occasions on the set of The Mandalorian, she felt like she did not know anything. Though she used to portray Bo-Katan in animation, this left her challenged in portraying the character’s movement and physicality. She told Starwars.com,

You know, it’s a completely different medium and I don’t think I realized how different it was, to be honest, until I actually stepped on stage. I thought that I had done all of the work and realized that I didn’t actually know how Bo-Katan moved and talked and held herself. All of a sudden, I felt completely unprepared even though I knew so much about her and her backstory.

This may have been surprising, but years of practice made the switch a little easier for Sackhoff. She studied with Favreau in developing Bo-Katan’s physicality and how the character sat on her throne. These may look like insignificant features, but they are essential to providing life to the animated character.

Fans and critics have received Sackhoff’s performance in the series with open arms. The combination of a skilled fighter with a multilayered story has added depth to the Star Wars universe. Bo-Katan’s search for the Darksaber and her troubled connection with Din Djarin have become key story points in The Mandalorian.

The Mandalorian is available to stream on Disney+.