With the widely panned sequel trilogy in its rearview, Disney found “a new hope” with Star Wars‘ first-ever live-action TV series, The Mandalorian. It arrived just before Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker (2019) hit theaters, but it came at a time when the franchise was in disarray — and the trilogy-topping film only added to fans’ disappointment.The Mandalorian marked the dawn of a new era for Star Wars and also helped launch Disney+. For a while, the series could do no wrong. The bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) quickly became as iconic as Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), or C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker).Credit: LucasfilmThe Mandalorian Became a Global SuccessSeason 2 arrived in 2020 and featured cameos from characters only previously seen in animation (Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze), as well as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). The finale was explosive and emotional, and it felt completely satisfying — with Din Djarin handing Grogu over to the iconic Jedi Knight, the series could have quite easily ended there.Of course, Disney had other plans. The Mandalorian was so popular at that point that a third season was greenlit. But when it streamed in 2023, reception was mixed. Not only was the story unfocused, it undid the events of the previous season — although that process started in The Book of Boba Fett (2021) — by inexplicably bringing Grogu back into the fold.Credit: LucasfilmSeason 3’s Mixed ReceptionAudiences also criticized the character of Bo-Katan, who became a central figure in the third season. An otherwise fan-favorite from The Clone Wars and Rebels, many felt she was essentially replacing Pedro Pascal as the titular Mandalorian.At the time, it was also no mystery to fans that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was planning to add more female-driven stories to the franchise, and so many feared that Bo-Katan would take the reins from Din Djarin entirely in Season 4.Of course, Season 4 has yet to arrive — the film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, slated for release next May, will seemingly continue the series (although whether or not a fourth season will happen afterwards remains to be seen). But where will Bo-Katan fit in? Well, Katee Sackhoff isn’t on the cast list, which so far includes Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), and Jonny Coyne (The Nun), and, of course, Pedro Pascal.Credit: Inside the MagicThe Mandalorian & Grogu Could Be Going Back To BasicsWhile nothing has been confirmed, it’s reasonable to assume that Disney and Lucasfilm are playing it safe with the upcoming film, possibly going back to basics and focusing only on Din Djarin and Grogu without overstuffing it with other characters and cameos. With Bo-Katan specifically, this is the most likely case, especially considering her Season 3 reception.But it seems there’s no bigger critic of Bo-Katan than the actress herself. Recently, on her YouTube podcast, The Sackhoff Show, Sackhoff, who played the character in both animation and live action, talked at great length with her Battlestar Galactica co-star Tahmoh Penikett about how playing the fan-favorite Nite Owl “broke” her.Credit: LucasfilmKatee Sackhoff Gets Honest About Bo-Katan“I lost all of my confidence after [The] Mandalorian. All of it,” she explained. “My style of acting has always just been, your first instinct is the right instinct, do that. Play the reality of the situation. And I’ve never really played a character. I’ve always played two steps removed from myself, in a sense. It always felt grounded in some part of belly, of who I was.”“Bo-Katan is nowhere near who I am as a human being,” she continued. “Her life, what she wants, like, 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, it just broke me, where 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.”You can watch the full video below:Related: Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian Replacement Officially Confirmed for New ‘Star Wars’Will B0-Katan Return to The Mandalorian in the Future?Katee Sackhoff’s future in Star Wars is currently unknown; however, her comments certainly suggest that she won’t appear in The Mandalorian & Grogu, which has wrapped filming. While an appearance is still possible, it’s unlikely.Not only that, but it’s unlikely Sackhoff would be so candid about not being able to get work after The Mandalorian if she’d managed to secure a role in a Star Wars movie, of all things.But Sackhoff isn’t the only recurring Mandalorian actor who isn’t part of the film’s lineup. Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), Emily Swallow (The Armorer), and Amy Sedaris (Peli Motto) are also absent. Even the likes of Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka Tano), Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett), and Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand) — all of whom went on to star in their own spinoffs — aren’t expected to reprise their roles.Whether or not any of these actors — Sackhoff included — will make an appearance in the upcoming untitled New Republic movie from Dave Filoni (which is expected to be a “Mando-Verse” crossover), remains to be seen.The Mandalorian & Grogu releases in theaters on May 22, 2026.How do you feel about Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian? Would you like to see her return in the movie? Let us know your thoughts!The post Pedro Pascal Replacement Speaks Out on ‘The Mandalorian’ Role appeared first on Inside the Magic.