Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff was born on April 8, 1980. She grew up as a Star Wars fan, and as a child, she watched Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. She thought Leia Organa was cool, and one of her favorite films is Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. She later performed voice work for the stop-motion animated show Robot Chicken, which is known for parodying Star Wars. Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni is friends with the creators, Seth Green and Matt Senreich, and he asked them what Sackhoff was like to work with. Sackhoff then ended up voicing the Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars. Much of the inspiration for Kryze came from Filoni, and he helped form the character he wanted with Sackhoff's voice from the beginning. Sackhoff took Filoni's feedback and direction for the director and made sure to sound the way he wanted. Over the years, Sackhoff put a bit more of her own spin on voicing Kryze. She viewed Kryze's development in the series a metaphor for life, forgiveness, and how people can change.

On September 2, 2012, Sackhoff was inducted into the 501st Legion fan organization as an honorary member for voicing Kryze, and she was given her Kryze helmet. Sackhoff also voiced Kryze in the Star Wars Rebels animated series.

At Celebration Chicago, 2019, Sackhoff discussed the The Mandalorian television series with Filoni, telling him that Kryze was not dead and that the age was within reason. Filoni assured her Kryze's appearance was already in the works, though Sackhoff did not believe anything would happen. She later got a call saying that Jon Favreau, one of the show's executive producers, wanted to meet her. At a meeting, it took Sackhoff a long time to realize that her face as Kryze was on the wall and that Favreau was asking if she wanted to be in the show, which she eagerly accepted. Sackhoff felt lucky when she learned she would play Kryze in live-action in the show's second season. She took the opportunity for what it was, assuming that nothing would come out of it. Sackhoff believed that Kryze was ready to lead her people because of everything she had been through.

On Sackhoff's first day, she put on her wardrobe and had her makeup test done. The crew spent a long time making sure that Sackhoff's eyebrows were perfect, the freckles were right, and Kryze's scar was on her face. Days before the start of shooting, Sackhoff started to question how to move her face as Kryze, which she had never had to think of before. She said that voicing Kryze for over ten years gave her a large understanding of who she was a person, but it did not help figure out her physicality. Sackhoff had a hard time translating the way Kryze walks and moves her face in a way that did not seem cartoonish. She did not know how Kryze talked and held herself, causing her to feel unprepared. She had to find a way to make Kryze feel regal and show her stoicism as well as move in a calculated way.

Sackhoff said the hardest part was getting out of her own way and letting go of her insecurities. She sought to show Kryze's fierce exterior and used her insecurities because she thinks Kryze is insecure, which she thought explained why she had not tried to lead up. Sackhoff compared her time on set to Roger Rabbit exploring the real world for the first time. While on set, she discovered that some things Kryze did in animation did not work in live-action, so she tried to find a balance so that fans could instantaneously feel familiar with Kryze and she would be bigger and better than people imagined. Sackhoff first wore her costume in the wardrobe department of the Los Angeles-based production.

Sackhoff was excited that Bryce Dallas Howard was directing the episode "Chapter 11: The Heiress" due to being a fan of her. Howard helped Sackhoff along with her performance as Kryze in the episode. Sackhoff talked about how Kryze has a large ego, which can help someone become a good leader. During lunch breaks on the set, Filoni shared the near-complete Siege of Mandalore episodes in the final season of The Clone Wars, and explained some of the character-building details and where Kryze has been since the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. Sackhoff enjoyed working with Howard and Mercedes Varnado, the actress who payed Koska Reeves. For the episode "Chapter 16: The Rescue," Filoni told Sackhoff that Plo Koon would save Grogu to hide Luke Skywalker's appearance in the episode. She viewed her live-action portrayal as a perfect representation of who Kryze was in The Clone Wars and Rebels, and she believed the portrayal paid homage to the animated Kryze. She enjoyed watching compilations of fans reacting to Kryze first appearing in live-action.

At Celebration Anaheim, 2022, Sackhoff announced that she would reprise her role in the third season of The Mandalorian. Sackhoff and Jon Favreau collaborated on defining Kryze's current state of being in the season. Favreau also gave her pep talks and helped coach her through the intimidation. Sackhoff wanted Kryze to look like she belongs in the world and to look slightly different. In an effort to lean in and own pieces of Kryze more, Sackhoff and the crew worked on her hair and made her freckles a little more pronounced. Shooting for the third season started before The Book of Boba Fett premiered, so Sackhoff did not understand why Grogu was present. She said that wearing a suit for sixteen hours a day was not comfortable, so she would attempt to keep morale up. There were five different stunt-woman that wore the armor depending on their individual skill sets and what was needed. This gave Sackhoff time to spend with her newborn. Favreau and executive producer Rick Famuyiwa regularly deferred to Sackhoff for her expertise every day. Sackhoff performed some of the action such as a knee-slide. She learned a new stunt move for Season 3. For the scenes of Kryze sitting on her throne, Favreau wanted it to seem slightly disrespectful, so he had Sackhoff sit and walk back multiple times. Sackhoff viewed the way Kryze sits as a metaphor for part of her issues.