During the long gap between The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale and its Season 3 premiere, fans envisioned all manner of antagonistic scenarios that could occur between Pedro Pascal’s Din and Katee Sackhoff’s Clone Wars vet Bo-Katan, with the elusive Darksaber as the grand prize. But that’s not what Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni had in mind, at least not yet, as thoes with Disney+ subscriptions witnessed a far less aggressive Bo-Katan in “The Apostate,” as she seemed intent to lounge her days away in her throne. (Much to some fans’ enjoyment.) A return to badassery ensued in Ep. 302, but after gaining possession of the Darksaber during the rescue mission, she surprisingly chose to return it to its current owner without any messy-mess.
Bo-Katan seemed to be more emotionally invested in Mando never having Pog soup before than she did about taking over Darksaber duties, and Katee Sackhoff herself explained there’s a reason her character doesn’t appear to be as driven by Darksaber motivations as viewers may have thought. Here’s how she put it to Deadline:
We have to go back to see why she’s doing what she’s doing. This is a person who has fought, fought against her own people. She’s fought forever and she realizes that doesn’t work. You can’t continue to fight amongst yourselves. I think with Din — I don’t know if I’ll go as far as to say that she respects and trusts him — but she doesn’t not. He’s done nothing. If didn’t have the darksaber, he’s done nothing that would make him her enemy. I think that is her problem is that she realizes that she’s not going to fight her people anymore. She’s not going to fight someone who she doesn’t have a reason to fight.
In any situation where fighting and violence are used as a means of leadership, barring the most heinous exceptions, there comes a point where enough is recognized to be enough. And for Bo-Katan, it wasn’t just a case of beating a dead horse, as it were, where her actions led her to a status quo plateau, but rather that so many of her choices caused measurable damage for those following her, as well as herself.
As such, she’s taken some time to reflect, and is now focused more on learning from history rather than repeating it. In Sackhoff’s words:
Every single possibility, every place that she’s at right now, every direction she’s done before didn’t work before. That’s what she’s trying to figure out.
So if everything she'd attempted before only led to bad things and ruin, then Bo-Katan was left to mull over how to change her approach into something completely new. And by all means, sitting on a throne like a damned legend seemed to be working well enough without destroying anything. When asked about the timing of Bo-Katan's shift in attitude about the Darksaber, Katee Sackhoff said:
If you go by the timeline that Jon [Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] are acting on, in that it’s been a few years. She has had time to lose all her people. They’re not following her anymore, which means she’s not a leader without the Darksaber, but she doesn’t know how to go about getting the Darksaber in such a way that’s going to result in her not losing her people.
Not only does Bo-Katan reverse her initial Ep. 302 stance of not joining Mando on his Mandalore quest, but she instantly jumped to attention upon realizing he was in danger. She even used the Darksaber as part of her rescue efforts, which would be as suitable a reason as any to just take control of the weapon anew. But that might have meant losing Mando as a friend in arms, and she's not about losing people anymore. Plus, after seeing that giant eyeball, she now realizes that her previous assumptions about the planet may not have been so accurate, which may result in another shift in Bo-Katan's mindset.
The Battlestar Galactica vet spoke previously about wanting Season 3 to explore the reasoning behind why she didn’t forcibly take the Darksaber from Din in the Season 2 finale. And more recently shared how honored she felt for The Mandalorian's Jon Favreau and others to ask for her personal Bo-Katan input, so it looks like she’s getting exactly what she was hoping for.
What's coming next, and when will Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon re-enter the story? Be sure to watch The Mandalorian's new episodes streaming every Wednesday on Disney+.
