Everything You Need to Know About Bo-Katan Before 'The Mandalorian' Season 3

With so many Star Wars characters populating the faraway galaxy, sometimes it’s easy to lose track of those who are often overshadowed by the more popular ones. We think one of those characters is Bo-Katan Kryze, the Mandalorian who has been known to operate within a bit of a grey area where morals are concerned. She’s not considered a Star Wars villain, though – these days she probably leans more towards Star Wars hero territory than anything.

However, that doesn’t mean she isn’t a complex character. And if you’re familiar with all of her appearances, you’ll know what we’re talking about! Her most recent appearance was The Mandalorian Season 2, in which she shows up to lend our heroes a helping hand, not unlike her roles in previous Star Wars shows. But now, with the third season of The Mandalorian on the horizon, fans are starting to wonder what Bo-Katan’s true intentions are.

Want to know everything about Bo-Katan before you watch The Mandalorian Season 3? If you’re happy to read spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, and The Mandalorian, then this is the way…

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Bo-Katan Kryze first appears in the fourth season of the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in the episode “A Friend in Need” (although she doesn’t once remove her helmet in this episode!). The show ran from 2008 to 2020 (with a big hiatus in between), but Bo-Katan only has a handful of appearances. Nevertheless, she’s easily one of the more interesting characters in the show, and a formidable opponent in battle. But who is she?

Bo-Katan is the sister of Mandalore’s Dutchess Satine Kryze, to whom she is estranged due to their opposing political views. We first meet Bo-Katan as the member of a terrorist cell known as Death Watch (her unit is called the Nite Owls), who believe in returning Mandalore to its “ancient warrior ways”. Bo-Katan is very much a villain when she first shows up in the show (although from her point of view, she’s anything but – which happens to be the case with most villains).

Bo-Katan returns in the fifth season, in “Eminence”, “Shades of Reason” and “The Lawless”, which sees Death Watch join forces with Darth Maul. However, refusing to be led by a Sith, Bo-Katan abandons Death Watch with a few remaining allies, but Maul later murders her sister Satine in front of ex-love interest Obi-Wan Kenobi. Bo-Katan then comes to the aid of Obi-Wan, in the hope that he will bring the Grand Army of the Republic to Mandalore and dethrone Maul.

Bo-Katan returns to the show in the seventh and final season, in the episodes “Dangerous Debt”, “Together Again”, “Old Friends Not Forgotten”, “The Phantom Apprentice” and “Shattered”. This time, she helps Ahsoka Tano to try and take down Maul, who remains in power on Mandalore, while the Galactic Empire rise to power behind the scenes. We last see Bo-Katan bidding farewell to Ahsoka, who leaves to transport an incarcerated Maul to Coruscant.

Star Wars: Rebels

Star Wars: Rebels takes place 14 years after Star Wars: The Clone Wars ends, and sees the return of many characters, including Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Captain Rex, and Bo-Katan. However, Bo-Katan’s appearance here is even more short-lived than her time on the previous show. Nevertheless, seeing her is awesome – even if the animation is a bit of a downgrade from The Clone Wars (especially from having last seen her in the cinematic final season!).

Unfortunately, you also have to wait until Season Four’s “Heroes of Mandalore” to see her return. Having fled her homeworld, which is now under Imperial occupation, Bo-Katan forms an alliance with the Ghost crew to destroy a weapon previously created by rebel Mandalorian Sabine Wren, which has the ability to destroy Beskar armor. It’s this episode where Bo-Katan really develops as a character, as she ends up convincing Sabine not to kill the leader of a Mandalorian clan.

The second season of the hit Star Wars show gave us a ton of treats, which mostly came in the form of characters from other shows and movies. The most memorable was Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who appears in the final episode “The Rescue” to save Grogu from the clutches of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and his Darktroopers. And then there’s the equally iconic Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), who appears in “The Tragedy” and the finale.

We also got to see Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) in “The Jedi”, an episode that really sets the stage for the character’s very own spin-off show Ahsoka. But she wasn’t the only character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels to make her live-action debut in The Mandalorian – Bo-Katan also shows up, and is even played by the awesome Katee Sackhoff, who voices the character in animated form!

In The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan’s first appearance (“The Heiress”) sees her rescue Grogu from Quarren pirates, with the help of fellow Nite Owls Axe Woves (Simon Mario Kassianides) and Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks). During her time on the show, we learn that Bo-Katan is in pursuit of the Darksaber, which ultimately leads her to Moff Gideon. She also points Din Djarin in the direction of Ahsoka Tano, so it’s likely the two have remained in contact over the years.

In the finale episode “The Rescue”, Bo-Katan returns to help Din Djarin retrieve Grogu from the Empire (where would he be without her?!). But things become complicated when our Beskar-clad hero unintentionally wins the Darksaber from Gideon. Unable to simply accept the weapon from Din Djarin who offers it willingly, Bo-Katan must fight him in order to claim ownership, with which she intends to rule Mandalore. But we’ll have to wait until Season 3 to see what happens.

Future Star Wars Shows

Bo-Katan has already been confirmed to be appearing in The Mandalorian Season 3 – which is no surprise considering that the Darksaber storyline is the only one left open. But will she end up fighting our favorite bounty hunter for the weapon? He does try to surrender it to her in the finale, but apparently, it can only be acquired through combat. So it’s more than likely that the two will become enemies unless there’s a loophole in which Din Djarin can simply let Bo-Katan win!

What other Star Wars shows could Bo-Katan appear in? We’re betting our galactic credits on Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which is set just after the rise of the Galactic Empire. This would make a lot of sense, considering the show follows on almost immediately from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She might also appear in the upcoming Ahsoka series, which actress Katee Sackhoff has even expressed an interest in doing.

Whether or not Bo-Katan will become the villain in The Mandalorian Season 3 remains to be seen, but it’s clear she considers herself ‘above’ other Mandalorians. In “The Heiress”, she is quick to point out that Din Djarin is part of a cult (that his way isn’t the way at all!). And in the finale, she tells Boba Fett that he is a disgrace to his Mandalorian armor because he’s a clone – she even calls his father Jango Fett his “donor”. Ouch.

Either way, it certainly looks like Bo-Katan has a future in Star Wars. While she has appeared in three Star Wars TV shows so far, we can’t help but feel she was a little underused (at least up until her appearance in The Mandalorian). But now, whether she’s going to fight Din Djarin or continue to fight alongside him, at least we’ll get to see more of her unique combat style (a fusion of jetpack-ballet and super-fast combos!) and that fierce attitude we know and love!

Do you think Bo-Katan will become the villain in The Mandalorian Season 3?