A familiar face from Mandalore will be joining the cast of Star Wars Rebels. At this weekend’s Oz Comic Con Sydney, actress Katee Sackhoff revealed she had voiced Bo-Katan Kryze for the show. Sackoff originated the character back in 2012 for the award-winning TV show Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Sackoff is otherwise known as Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica and, currently, as Deputy Sheriff Vic Moretti on the crime drama Longmire. However, this is the first time she’s returned to the Star Wars Saga since The Clone Wars. What has Bo-Katan been up to, and when will she appear on Rebels? Let’s take a look.
Who is Bo-Katan Kryze?
Bo-Katan Kryze comes from a complicated family. Her sister, Duchess Satine, was the leader of the pacifistic New Mandalorians during the Clone Wars. Bo-Katan, on the other hand, was a high-ranking member of the Death Watch, a splinter group that was bent on reviving Mandalore’s warrior culture. As a result, the Kryze sisters were at odds, particularly after the Death Watch ousted Satine from power.
After that, however, the Sith Lord Darth Maul violently deposed Pre Vizsla as the Death Watch’s leader. Bo-Katan refused to accept Maul, an outsider, as Mandalore’s ruler. Instead, she and the Nite Owls, her squad of loyal warriors, formed a splinter cell. Bo-Katan rescued Satine from prison, but she was powerless to prevent Maul from murdering Satine. Bo-Katan wasn’t that close with her sister, but she mourned Satine’s tragic death.
Unfortunately, a key piece of Bo-Katan’s story is something we’ve never seen. The series finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars focused on an event called the siege of Mandalore. At Celebration Europe 2016, series producer Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm creative executive Pablo Hidalgo revealed some tidbits about the siege of Mandalore. Bo-Katan would have worked with former Jedi Ahsoka Tano and Clone Captain Rex to capture Maul, who was on Mandalore. It would have been an epic series finale. Sadly, The Clone Wars was cancelled before the finale could be produced.
When Will Bo-Katan Appear on Rebels?
Star Wars Rebels has already hinted at the current state of Mandalore. The Empire occupied the world and transformed the Royal Academy of Government into an Imperial Academy. Sabine Wren and a fellow Imperial cadet, Tetsu Onyo, escaped from Mandalore’s academy. Eventually, both of them joined the rebellion.
We’ve gotten hints that Rebels season three will explore more of Satine’s Mandalorian ties. “The Protector of Concord Dawn” revealed that Sabine was born into House Vizsla, and that her mother was once part of Death Watch. We also know that Sabine will come across the Darksaber, which belonged to Pre Vizsla and later Maul. However, we don’t know exactly when Bo-Katan will make her debut on Rebels. It might not be this season, so we might have to wait for a while before we see her.
Nevertheless, since Sabine is an integral character on Rebels, it’s likely that Bo-Katan will appear sometime in season three. Her journey parallels that of Cham Syndulla, another Clone Wars veteran who joined the rebellion. Another Mandalorian, Fenn Rau of the Protectors, is already part of the rebellion. Could Fenn Rau recruit Bo-Katan as the newest rebel? Or perhaps the Nite Owls are still active as a rebel cell on Mandalore. In any case, we’ll just have to wait for Rebels season three to find out.
Star Wars Rebels returns on Saturday, September 24, at 8:30 p.m. with a special one-hour season premiere on Disney XD.