Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Introduction Blew Up ‘The Mandalorian’s’ Lore

If you thought you knew a lot about Mandalorians before this week, think again. The Mandalorian Chapter 11 took everything fans thought they knew and flipped it like Baby Yoda flipped that mudhorn. Of course if you’ve spent the last 8 years watching every single episode of every single Star Wars animated series, maybe this week wasn’t such a surprise. That’s because “Chapter 11: The Heiress” included the biggest crossover to date between Star Wars’ animated faction and its live-action contingent, thanks to Bo-Katan Kryze. SPOILERS ahead, people!

But first, let’s clear something up: her name is not Boca Tan. I know how badly we all wish we could go down to boca and get a tan right now, but don’t mishear this warrior’s name just because you didn’t get to go on any vacations this summer. Her name is Bo-Katan. Moving on!

As introduced into live-action in this episode, Bo-Katan Kryze is a Mandalorian warrior with all the fancy beskar trimmings. She’s got a helmet, a jet pack, all sorts of flashy weapons, and a can-do attitude. She even has a steely gaze that she’s not afraid to use—wait a minute, she takes off her helmet? That’s not the way! What’s going on here? If this reveal left you gagged, read ahead.

First, let’s take a step back. Bo-Katan Kryze debuted way back in 2012 in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 episode “A Friend in Need.” Who was the Bo-Katan voice actor? None other than Katee Sackhoff. That’s right—she voiced this character on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels for years before actually putting on a suit of armor.

During her storyarc on Clone Wars, Katan was initially a member of the Death Watch. The Death Watch was a cell of Mandalorian radicals that formed with the mission to end their people’s pacifism and bring them back to their warrior roots. They were bad guys, basically. Bo-Katan continued to pop up in Clone Wars, and she became more nuanced with every appearance. By the end of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Death Watch had teamed up with the Sith Lord Darth Maul (who was not dead, BTW) and staged a coup against Mandalore’s government. Bo-Katan was like, waitaminute, we aren’t going to let Mandalore be ruled by the guy who looks like a literal devil, right? Death Watch split into two factions, and Bo-Katan’s faction fought for the very government that she once tried to take down.

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When Bo-Katan popped up on Star Wars Rebels in its Season 4 premiere, set roughly 18 years after Clone Wars, she was a noble, respected warrior and was last seen carrying the legendary weapon known as the Darksaber. With this, she pledged to unite the various Mandalorian factions and rule them with honor and whatnot. So… what happened after that? Well, the Mandalorian Season 1 finale showed us what happened to the Darksaber…

Uh-oh!

Now, thanks to “The Heiress,” we know that Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) did not take Bo-Katan’s life when he took the Darksaber. We meet her on the estuary moon of Trask alongside two members of her Nite Owls battalion: Axe Woves (Simon Kassianides) and Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado, a.k.a Sasha Banks). We ultimately learn that the Bo-Katan’s Nite Owls are stationed on Trask to recover a cache of stolen Mandalorian weapons, weapons that the Empire has succeeded in getting their hands on. Now the Nite Owls are gonna take the weapons back and use them to take back control of Mandalore—and they’re gonna get some help from an unlikely ally.

Upon meeting Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), Bo-Katan realizes something that gives her pause: she realizes he’s a Child of the Watch. So, what are the Children of the Watch? Okay, let’s get into that. See what I meant by there being a whole lot of continuity in this episode?!

The Children of the Watch are the name of the foundlings that were rescued by the Death Watch sometime around 30-ish years ago. Din Djarin is one of them, and we saw this rescue take place in a flashback in the Season 1 finale. If you’ll recall from earlier in this post, Bo-Katan Kryze was a member of the Death Watch up until the point they went full evil. Presumably, it’s after this split that the Death Watch rescued Din and starting scooping up orphans to indoctrinate into the ancient Way of the Mandalore. Bo-Katan tells Djarin that, basically, his found family are a “cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to re-establish the ancient way.”

Up until this point, Din Djarin had no idea that his sect of Mandalorians were just that—a sect. He thought that their way, the whole never-take-off-your-helmet thing, was the only way. Bo-Katan Kryze, a Mandalorian through and through, represents a completely different way. In fact, she represents the modern way, and Din Djarin is part of, essentially, Mandalorian Amish. How is that gonna affect him moving forward? Only time will tell! At the very least, hopefully it means we’ll get to see Pedro Pascal’s face some more!

New episodes of The Mandalorian arrive every Friday on Disney+.

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