The beloved Bo-Katan Kryze actress Katee Sackhoff revealed much about her time in the Star Wars Universe during her recent appearance on a podcast. Including revealing one major writing detail that she would have changed for her character in The Mandalorian Season 3.
Season 3 of The Mandalorian featured much more of Bo-Katan Kryze than we had seen of her in the first two seasons. Katee Sackhoff’s character was chosen as the one who would unite the Mandalorian clans and lead them in an effort to retake their home planet.
The two-part season finale battle with Moff Gideon received mixed reactions from Star Wars fans with some feeling that it was almost too easy for Din Djarin, Grogu, and Bo-Katan in the end. There were criticisms of the Disney Plus show lacking enough tension in the last showdown with the Empire and Katee Sackhoff revealed details that might have improved it.
What change would Katee Sackhoff make?
During her appearance on The Big Thing podcast, Sackhoff explained that there was one scene in Chapter 23 that was actually much shorter on screen compared to what she had filmed on the day. The particular sequence was just before the clan’s return to Mandalore, where Bo-Katan Kryze gave a speech to the warriors in preparation for any dangers they might face.
“There’s definitely a couple scenes where I was like damn it. You know when Bo gives her speech about taking back Mandalore with two different clans? That scene was much longer,” she admitted, confirming it was originally more emotional and that comparisons could be made to William Wallace’s epic speech in Braveheart.
“The rousing thing, you’re inspiring these two separate clans that have to get out there and retake their homeworld, it has to be emotional. It has to be big.” she added, revealing that she was surprised not to have her speech included in its entirety, “for whatever reason, it got cut down a lot.”
“I loved this entire season, I thought it was fun.” the Bo-Katan actress shared, “But that one moment for me was like oh…I wish that they’d given more context for what happened right before because I think that it would’ve made that speech land heavier. The majority of the takes I did were William Wallace-esque.”
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Would this have improved Season 3’s finale?
Having Bo-Katan go into further detail and explain what was at stake to both the viewer and the Mandalorians would have likely made the finale much more impactful and emotional. Moments like the Armorer arriving with reinforcements, as well as Bo-Katan, Din, and Grogu banding together against Gideon were already great moments, but that added tension and pressure would have made them even more enjoyable.
We also would’ve got a greater look at Bo-Katan’s leadership skills and it would’ve turned what was a mostly forgetful sequence into, potentially, one of the more impactful moments of the entire third season and the crowning moment for her character after her arduous journey, if it was written well enough.
But Katee later highlighted that keeping the episodes shorter for viewers was also a priority at Lucasfilm for the Disney Plus series and it could have been the reason for the cut-down version. While it is disappointing not to see Lady Kryze’s speech in full, The Mandalorian’s finale has set her character up well for Season 4, where we will hopefully get some more extended scenes with the new Mandalorian ruler.