Why The Mandalorian Star Katee Sackhoff Struggled With Bo-Katan Role: 'It Broke Me'

Anyone who's ever had a passion for movies and shows likely had this thought cross their minds at some point: Actors have the coolest jobs in the world. To be able to play dress-up, put yourself through a crash course to learn some ass-kicking new skills, and have every facet of production tailored to make you look like the most appealing person who's ever lived? All while (ideally) getting paid commensurate to your talent and hard work? Yeah. Not to be a hot-take machine or anything, but that sounds like a pretty sweet way to make a living to me.

Until it isn't, that is. Even the most glamorous-looking vocations have (ahem) a dark side to them, which feels like the perfect segue into the whole reason why you clicked on this article on the first place. For "The Mandalorian" actor Katee Sackhoff, who originally voiced the fan-favorite character Bo-Katan Kryze in the animated "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" series before reprising her role in live-action, she found herself facing a particularly difficult challenge. How do you get into the headspace of a character who's so hard to understand and constantly hidden under a mask — both figuratively and literally?

In a recent episode of her podcast "The Sackhoff Show" (via Entertainment Weekly), the star admitted that she never quite managed to get into the mind of the ultra-cool and collected (and occasionally violent) Mandalorian revolutionary Bo-Katan. While talking to her guest (and former "Battlestar Galactica" costar) Tahmoh Penikett, Sackhoff discussed the idea of figuring out her "process" as an actor at such an established point in her career and how easily she lost confidence in her abilities. As it turns out, it all came to a head after filming "The Mandalorian." As she explained:

"I lost all of my confidence after 'Mandalorian.' All of it. My style of acting has always just been [...] I've always played [being] two steps removed from myself, in a sense. It always felt grounded in some part of my belly, of who I was. Bo-Katan is nowhere near who I am as a human being. Her life, what she wants — I didn't understand her. As much as I understood her, I never felt her in my stomach. I never identified with her. I didn't know how to find her. And it broke me."

Acting isn't always sunshine and rainbows, folks. Oftentimes, performers who take their craft seriously have to scratch and claw their way for years to become noticed at all. Once they finally get there, they may have to put up with some unbelievably tough working conditions — just ask any of the cast and crew working on grueling productions like "Game of Thrones." But for someone as accomplished as Katee Sackhoff, most well-known for her performance on the hit sci-fi series "Battlestar Galactica," her problem somewhat resembled something closer to a midlife crisis — a debilitating moment of self-doubt that nearly put a stop to all her ambitions. Sackhoff went on to describe how this unique inflection point left her "scrambling" to dig herself out of this rut:

"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."

Ultimately, it took some drastic measures for the actor to get herself back on track. Surrounding oneself with the right people is always a good first step for anyone, famous or not, and Sackhoff ended up having to find a new manager who truly understood the struggles she was going through — who, in turn, introduced her to an acting coach for the first time in her career. For those interested in how this helped ground her and regain her confidence, the rest of the conversation is well worth checking out for yourself (at this link, roughly 35 minutes in).

Luckily, it appears those dark times are well and truly behind her. Sackhoff will next be seen on Mike Flanigan's upcoming "Carrie" series for Prime Video. And for "Star Wars" fans, Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and little baby Grogu will reunite on the big screen for "The Mandalorian and Grogu" next year.