“The Mandalorian” season 3 saw Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, et al) team up with Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) to take back their home planet of Mandalore after its destruction by the Empire on the Night of a Thousand Tears. Before the disparate groups of Mandalorians — the Nite Owls surviving on the planet, Bo-Katan’s group, and the Armorer’s (Emily Swallow) covert — join together to fight for their shared goal, Bo-Katan reveals that she originally surrendered to Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and the Empire so they would leave the planet in peace. Obviously, that didn’t happen. She also speaks about how Mandalore was always too strong to take down when everyone worked together, which they must do now.
A rallying speech from a commander before a big battle has always been a staple of stories like this. Often they provide an excuse for a little exposition, all the while stirring the blood of the fighters and audiences. Bo-Katan’s big speech (and the shorter one before on Nevarro where she asks for volunteers) fits the bill. However, as it turns out, that rousing boost to her troops — all of them — was originally much longer. Sackhoff did an interview on Kristian Harloff’s YouTube channel in late April 2023, where she revealed her disappointment with the cuts made to what they filmed.
‘I wish that they’d given more context to what had happened right before’
During the interview, Katee Sackhoff mentioned that there are “a couple scenes where I was like, ‘Damn it!'” When she was asked if there was a specific scene in there that she wanted to speak about, she referenced her “We’re gonna go take back Mandalore” speech and said it was originally much longer. Kristian Harloff brought up the character William Wallace (based on the historical Scottish hero) in reference to his big moment in the movie “Braveheart.” It’s where Wallace (Mel Gibson) gives a stirring speech that has become the touchstone for such moments on film. Sackhoff explained that Bo-Katan’s big moment was originally much longer and mentions that William Wallace monologue as well:
“And that was what — the comparison you made, was this is the rousing thing. You’re inspiring these two separate clans to get out there and go retake their home world, it has to be emotional; it has to be big. And for whatever reason, it got cut down a lot. […] I love this entire season, I thought it was fun, but that one moment for me, I was like, ‘Oh.’ I wish that they’d given more context to what had happened right before. Because I think that it would have made that speech land heavier. […] The majority of the takes I did were, you know, William Wallace-esque.”
‘It has always surprised me that they’re as short as they are’
It was brought up that we’d be able to get more time for dialogue, etc., if the “Mandalorian” episodes were longer. This is a series on Disney+, after all, and while budget and narrative decisions have to be made, the episodes aren’t necessarily bound to a strict time limit as they would be on network TV.
When the possibility that this was “a Disney note” was mentioned, Katee Sackhoff admitted she didn’t know:
“Honestly, I really don’t know what that is. You know, when we’re in it, it feels like they’re longer. I’m always surprised how quick they go, because the episodes — there’s so many people that work on this show, there’s so many moving parts, it’s so expensive to shoot, and it has always surprised me that they’re as short as they are.”
While many fans would likely rather have longer episodes, budgets will always be a consideration, even if network time limits are not. The cuts to Bo-Katan’s speech may have served a purpose narratively that we’re unaware of yet. That said, I doubt I’m alone in hoping that Disney+ releases the full takes of her troop rallying at some point.
