‘Mandalorian’ Star Katee Sackhoff ‘Basically Didn’t Work’ for 3 Years After ‘Star Wars’ Show Because She ‘Didn’t Understand’ Her Character and ‘It Broke Me’

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/mandalorian-katee-sackhoff-lost-confidence-work-star-wars-1236496164/

42 comments

  1. > “It broke me. It just broke me,” Sackhoff said. “I started doubting everything about myself. I’m not a strong auditioner on tape, and I was having to put myself on tape. I wasn’t booking anything. And for three years, I basically didn’t work, and it just destroyed my confidence.”

  2. Did anyone else have trouble understanding what she’s talking about? Nothing against Sackhoff’s acting, but Bo-Katan is not exactly Hamlet as an acting challenge.

  3. I read this article twice and honestly just didn’t understand the issue. It sounded like she was insulting herself?

    Basically saying, I can’t act unless I make the character me. This character wasn’t me, so I didn’t understand it.

    Still love you though, Starbuck.

  4. I met her this Spring and she was lovely. I wouldn’t take it as anything other than her being hard on herself and not always understanding fandom. She was definitely overwhelmed by the Mando fans from what I saw.

  5. This sounds like code for “I was on a three year bender.”

  7. This is where I stopped watching Mando. I never got into The Clone Wars and I don’t need every damn Star Wars property to converge with the same characters. I have no connection to Bo Katan and I just wanted to keep watching my Star Wars space western in peace.

  8. You don’t understand a character you’ve been voicing and acting as for over a decade? The math ain’t mathin for me

  10. The response to her interview on this, and some of the comments here, really show that — and it’s not a clap back at all but just being literal — a lot of people don’t understand exactly what it is that a lot of actors are doing when they’re operating at a high level. It’s simple, but it’s not easy, and there are complicated roadblocks along the way.

    I am occasionally able to work as an actor and what Sackhoff expressed here was 100% understandable and normal for many professionals in this industry. There are complicated things going on related to pressure, expectation, communication on set, and a variety of other factors, that really affect a person. When you’re a set leader the normal challenges an actor faces amplify. When all that’s true and you’re working through how to bring some life to a character you’re having a hard time understanding it’s very stressful.

    I’m not suggesting actors are out there saving lives, just that when people are operating at a real vocational level there are a lot of aspects of what’s going on that an amateur or someone outside of the work isn’t going to automatically understand.

    “I don’t honestly think people know what acting is.” – Sir Ben Kingsley

  11. What is there to understand? Star Wars characters are rarely, if ever, anything complicated.

  12. God forbid anyone actually go listen to what she said.

  14. Whoever told her to dramatically remove the helmet every time she spoke is to blame.

  15. Coming from someone who actually went to acting school here, i completely get what she means. Considering that Bo Katan isn’t just a simple Mandalorian, but actually a part of a royal house, left to become a part of a terrorist nationalist organization, then attempt a civil war to take back her planet and ultimately someone who was entrusted to lead her people out of oppression and extinction. All the while coping with the loss of your sister due to your actions and your failure against a regime that took everything from you and your people. It’s a role that has a lot to take in and to be the face of that now and not just the voice, it’s not exactly a simple role in my opinion and there are physical challenges along with the mental mindset. It would genuinely challenge my very core if the characters i have played have not challenged me in this regard. I respect a lot of actors who put themselves in uncomfortable places to go there because it’s hard to come out of that. People forget that actors are real humans and it’s always a simple thing to switch off how you feel during scenes for some actors. I mean even Bo Katan’s confidence was very much destroyed in season 3. Imagine how Katee feels trying to convey that.

  16. Not to be….well, I watched Longmire and would cringe when she was in a scene. I really liked Mandalorian, but her character was never convincing to me. Maybe bias from Longmire, maybe not. There was another show, a sci-fi she was in, long voyage, to somewhere. I stopped watching it. Oh well🤷‍♂️

  17. Is she a method actor? That’s the only thing I can think of that makes this make sense. There have been method actors who have gone through some dark stuff as a result of that practice. I maybe could see how it would be hard to do method acting for a role you don’t understand.

    But other than that slim possibility I don’t understand what she is talking about

  21. Actor reveals she didn’t wanna watch kids show her character was introduced in. Just watch the damn show

  22. 95% of the time, listening to actors talk about their craft is as cringe as it gets. Most seem to take themselves a little too seriously

  24. Katee Sackhoff will forever be relegated to sci-fi space movies and shows. She’s in all of them playing essentially the same character. At this point I don’t think I could accept her in any other role.

  25. Hollywood casting schmucks are disgusting, she was awesome in that show

  26. I did not think she was bad at all in her role.

    The role didn’t have a huge amount of depth, which was disappointing because in the animated series the character had a lot of material and backstory to build on.

    She just has to find a role she’s passionate about. I really believe also she’s just much more suited to television where she can grow into a character. Movies are just so brief you have no time to really live and breathe your role in the way she probably has to in order to feel good about herself.

  30. My wife met her on a coffee shop right after Battlestar ended and said she was really nice.

  31. That would explain why I felt more like I was watching Kara Thrace than Bo-Katan. 

  32. The only people that can really understand a painting are painters. Because there’s nothing to understand. And they understand that.

  33. She was exceptional as Starbuck. I liked her in mando too, though she’s clearly been caught in the crossfire with the rapid decline in quality of that mess of a franchise.

    Tbh id take a step back too after cashing the diney cheques. Go do a couple of small indy films, then take the 1 for me 1 for my bank account approach.

    Shes a great actor, I hope she bounces back

  34. She had 2 children in the last 4 years. That’s the real reason for not working.

  37. It’s not ALL her fault, Bo-Karan was terrible well before the Mandalorian crapped the bed.

  39. The writing was so bad, that it fundamentally disrupted her ability to act. Yup, that’s a Disney production for you.

  40. I guess some high paying jobs are better than others. Our regular people jobs break us every day. Get over it.

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