August 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Katee Sackhoff talks with us about returning to Dragon Con, her career as a voice artist, bringing Bo-Katan to life, mordern day Westerns, gender-swapping Starbuck, podcasting, being a parent and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Our next guest actor, voice actor, and podcasters. She'll be
at dragon Con Labor Day weekend. Katie Sackoff.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome, Hi, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm well, I'm excited about dragon Con, excited that you're
going to be back. How many dragon Cons is this
going to be for you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know, I was just thinking about it, and I
can't honestly tell you if it's three or if it's four.
I'm just I'm trying to. Normally, I remember dragon Con
based on who was with me and one memorable like cosplay,
and I can most specifically I've got I've got three,
but they could be from the same one, so I'm
(01:00):
not sure this could be three or this could be four.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, this is going to be number twenty four for
me consecutive. They all run tow for me, but they're
all specially in their own way of course. So what
brings you back to dragon Con? I know this is
you've got you've got your toe or in some cases,
you've done a cannonball into so many different fandoms. So,
but you've at least got a toe in many of them.
(01:22):
And I'm sure when you do different conventions, they're all
different in their own way. But dragon Con is very
unique and special because it's dragon Con.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
M hmmm. I think you know the fact that I
haven't been back to dragon Con in almost ten years,
if not ten years, I think is sort of the reason.
You know dragon Con is is everyone knows it the
biggest show of the year, and I think it's just
one of those things where people just assume you're going,
(01:55):
and when you tell them you're not going, you're like, oh, wow, okay,
And so I think it was about time. It was
just time for me to come back.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You were, you were long overdue as far as the
fandoms go, and I know you're going to get folks
that are going to come to see you about so
many different things. Obviously, Battlestar has been the thing for
a very long time. Now, Star Wars pretty prominent. I know,
Longmire twenty four, you've kind of had, you know, DC
Marvel as far as a voice work that you've done,
(02:25):
been even into the Halloween franchise or Riddick. I mean,
there's a lot represented there, so I know you'll get
folks cosplaying and coming up to see you for a
lot of different things. That's pretty unique when you've got
that thick of a resume, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I think it's really special as what it is is
that you you know, I've been allowed to exist in
so many different fandoms at this point, and and different
mediums of our industry and of the genre work, and
I I just think it's really special. You know, my
career at this point is like almost thirty years and
(03:09):
it's just a It's just a gift, is what it is.
Because sci fi fans are the most supportive and loving
fans out there, and I'm you know, lucky to have them.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Supportive and loving. They have a bit of a reputation
here lately of being a little difficult at times. I
want to kind of kind of go back in time
a little bit to Battle Star and the Starbuck gender swap.
How different would that have played out today or even
in the last five to ten years.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh God, A completely different thing, you know, for a
multitude of reasons. I mean, the main reason is that
social media didn't exist. People didn't have a platform to
yell into and out from and so if people were upset,
(04:01):
and they were, they didn't have as large of a
place to go out and reach people and so and
because that, because of that, they didn't have the ability
to form like these gangs, if you will, these angry
mob like you know, fandoms that get really upset that
then find each other and it amplifies the voice. And
(04:25):
so I think that it was allowed to happen for
that reason. But also I think that you know, Starbreck
was a really special character, and I think that she
was written just really well, straight off the off the top,
and I think she won over the majority of the
(04:47):
fan base if they gave it a chance. A lot
of people still haven't for the same reason. And I
find it just really sad, to be honest, but you know,
it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, and you brought the character to life in a
unique and when you're seeing like an Ellen Ripley or
a Sarah Connor kind of coming through in the way
that you you played this role, and you put a
great a description of sort of when you talk about
these sort of gangs that kind of come together. It's
also I feel like in many ways that there's an
(05:20):
expectation and a lot of fandoms where they feel like
they're entitled to things to play out the way that
they were expecting it to play out, and they get
very disappointed, and then that's when they feel angry and
they want to shout from the rooftops.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Well, yeah, and I you know, I mean, I remember
this back in the day when I, you know, had
syried cancer back and right after Battle for ended in
two thousand and eight, and I, you know, went into
my doctor with just this list of things that were
wrong with me, and he said, have you been in
the message groups? I said yes, and he said, happy
(05:54):
people don't go in message groups. Don't go in the
message group. The happy people are just out living their lives.
They don't have time to yell. And I was like, cool, okay,
so I learned then. Great, granted completely different context, but
I and whether it's true or not, that's sort of
(06:15):
how I think about it. I think about it in
the sense that people who are just loving content and
loving the fact that we are continuing to get new
genre projects daily, if not monthly, with all of these
different platforms, I am one of them. I don't even
(06:38):
if I don't like something I have never thought I'm
gonna go yell at people about this, you know, I've
just thought, Okay, that wasn't my cup of tea, cool
and move on. It wasn't for me, you know. But
I do think that you're right. I think that a
lot of people have an expectation. They've built something up,
(07:00):
if it's a remake or continuation of a franchise or
a character that they love, and when it's not exactly
what they wanted, it's heartbreaking for them. And I can
understand that, you know. What I don't understand is the
desire to make everyone know how much you disliked something
(07:24):
or a character or a person or But you know,
I guess that's why I'm not in a message groups.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And it can't be healthy. It can't be good for you,
it can't be good for anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Really.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No or Dragon Con pregame show right after this. My
dad would kill me if I didn't talk to you
about Longmire. He was such a fan of the show
and such a fan of you. He says, Hi, by
(07:58):
the way, when I.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Talk was going to be talking.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I will do that. And it's interesting to me that
we've had this period where uh, sort of the modern
day westerns have really taken a grip. I know that.
You know, for so long we we the the medium
for westerns felt it had to still be set at
a certain time. And then suddenly, you know, we had
(08:23):
shows like you guys, Justified was another really good one,
and then all of a sudden, you know, Yellowstone just
blows up and becomes this huge thing, and it feels
like it was just part of time to tell these
stories in a more modern setting.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think so too. I think that the a show
like Yellowstone is wonderful as it is, was set up
for success by a lot of shows that came before
it in the genre that with the whistle for people.
You know, you you had, like you said, you had
(09:00):
the Justifies and the Hell on Wheels and the Longmires,
and you know, you had shows that that had real
large fan bases in their small group, you know, I
mean Longmire had it was the the top scripted show
on A and E. It was, it was very popular.
(09:21):
And then you know that that audience followed us over
to Netflix and they're still like just feverish for more.
And so I think a show like Yellowstone, like I said,
that fan base was ready and there was nothing like
it on television, and and all of the shows, the
westerns that were before it had all been canceled, So
(09:44):
there it was the perfect timing for it. And and
I mean the cast and the writing and the you know,
tailor of it all is obviously part of the reason
as well why it succeeded.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And then space westerns come along, shows like Firefly and
we're going to get to mandl in just a second,
but that kind of fits also into that. I mean,
it's just another way of sort of telling those type
stories or going through some of those tropes and things.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Mm hmm, yeah, I mean, of course, I mean it
is just a different way of telling the same sort
of story, you know. I mean Walt Longmire was in
every Man. He was a reluctant hero, and he was flawed,
and he was also like a lone wolf, you know,
(10:33):
he's sort of it was primed for that. You could
have taken that exact same character and put him in
space and it would have felt very much like a
space Western. And so it's a yeah, I love the
fact that we've we've seen a myriad of space westerns
throughout the years as well, because I think that the
(10:53):
genres are really similar to each other in a lot
of ways.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So we're sort of building into this. So we'll get
to Mandalorian, but first we have to talk about Clone
Wars and Rebels. And it's funny because every year I
do this show and inevitably I'll have a voice actor
that I end up booking. This year. As we're setting
up the show, I was asked, well, you don't have
a voice actor yet, and I was like, I have
(11:21):
Katie Sacho. Don't you dare say she's not a voice actor,
but they just met someone who's sort of specific to that. Yeah,
but you're you're And I said, well, she's a fantastic
voice actor, and they said, touche. Never mind, forget the question.
But so you get cast in Star Wars to do
(11:42):
Clone Wars, and then obviously that rolls into Rebels. In
this character Bocatan, which is opening things up into the
Mandalorian world. We were all, you know, me growing up
as a kid, fascinated with Boba Fette. Who is this guy?
What is he about? What's the armor? All that? And
then we got some of these, you know, other stories
(12:04):
that kind of filled us in whether it was in
novelizations and things, so there was an interest there in
who these people are and what they're about. And then
we get introduced to them in this animation and you
get cast to play Boca Tan and they sort of
kind of draw her to look like you a little bit.
So was there any chance anybody else was ever going
(12:28):
to get cast in a live action Boka Tan or
did they kind of paint themselves into a corner or
was there any hope or dream of that happening. Did
you talk to Dave Filoni about I mean, I know
early on this had to be like we're doing this
animated thing, but was there a big picture, eventual thing
that he had in mind or did you guys ever
discuss that It never.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Occurred to me that that would happen. I mean, Dave
says that he always knew that was going to happen,
and that was neat. That was always the intention. But
when have you ever heard of that happening before? It's ever,
it doesn't happen. They don't take an animated show and
go I mean, I guess sometimes they do. You know,
they made teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles animated, so first you know,
(13:14):
they did Gi Joe. So, yes, they have gone back
and taken some of like the animated shows from like
the eighties and nineties and turned them into live actions. Yes,
they have done that, You're right, But I never dreamed
that they would do that, So it never occurred to
me to ask him. And it also never occurred to
me that she looked like me. I kind of thought
(13:37):
she looked like his wife. So in my mind, it
just it just never occurred to me, you know. And primarily,
you know, I came up in the late nineties in
this industry where, you know, there was a huge separation
between TV actors and filmmactors, and I still even though
(14:01):
that does not necessarily exist at all anymore, it injected
doesn't exist at all. I mean, granted, there I guess
there are some actors that you haven't seen do TV yet,
but not many. So I always thought of myself as
just a TV actress that like, if they made a
(14:22):
Mandalorian movie or a Clone Wars movie, that they would
recast me as a film actor. And so when I
sort of cornered Dave at celebration in twenty nineteen or eighteen,
and I sort of jokingly said, you know, so this
Mandalorian show, huh, you know those alive does she does?
(14:47):
She does? She work in this world? He said, yes,
you know. I left it at that. I was like, okay,
that's want snow. And I thought I was just joking.
I mean it was just joking. I was, you know,
rithing in a friend and taking the piss out of
them and sort of being like, why didn't you call buddy?
And I think a few months later we got a
call that John wanted to sit down with me, and
(15:08):
I was like, I'm sorry, what And it didn't occur
to me that they were actually offering me the role
of bo And until a good fifteen twenty minutes into
that meeting with John, and I realized that my face
was already on all the prevows and I was like,
oh my god, Oh I guess this is happening. And
(15:30):
I walked out of there and I called my husband,
who was my boyfriend at the time, and I was like,
I'm not supposed to tell you this. I signed a
really crazy NDA, but I think I'm going to be
in Star Wars. He was like, holy crap. So before
we even got the offer, I think we celebrated because
I knew what was coming and it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And then they put you in wardrobe and that's when
I think it's like, oh, yeah, that's who she looks like.
That was And I know the wig is certainly a
big part of that. And there's been a lot of
talk about the helmet and the hair. I know that's
not even a real thing. To take that helmet off
and the hair look the way it looks every time now,
(16:13):
And I know there'll be a lot a lot of
Mandalorians and Mandalorian representation at Dragon Con with people wearing
the helmets, and their hair is going to look a
lot different when they take those helmets all for photos.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well it's so funny too because they I constantly get
the question, how did you get the helmet to work
with your hair? Because costs players want to be able
to put the helmet on. I'm so sorry, but I
don't think you're going to be able to do it,
so I don't know if it's possible or you're going
to have to make it so big. It's basically just
(16:45):
the lid and it's not padded at all.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I feel like this next question, even if there's something
to say, you probably can't answer it. I have to
ask it. I'm obligated to ask it, and then you
are obligated to answer it, however, or you're supposed to.
Is there anything you can tell us about Mandalorian and groguh.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
No, No, not at all. What I can say is
that we haven't seen the last of her, and I
do know that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I mean I would hope not, but you know so,
I mean you've just said a little bit. You just
didn't say much, and that's fine if that's all that
you can say.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, that's about That's all I can say. I'm really
excited to see it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, excellent, So so am I more Dragon Con pregame
show right after this. I want to talk about podcasting.
You you during I guess COVID you did what a
(17:52):
lot of people did, and you said, I want to
try something for expression. It was a weird time just
to be alive and not have an outlet for expressing yourself.
And I know you tried some things then and then
you eventually landed at podcasting. Love. I love listening and watching.
(18:13):
It's great hearing you talk with some of the co
stars and people that you have worked with. And I
think I've heard you talk about the fact that it
was in the midst of podcasting that you discovered you
were neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, isn't that crazy. It just never it never
occurred to me that I was. I just I just
thought that I was a really bad communicator, and then
I just didn't listen, and I was like, in some
way rude because my brain moves so fast, and not
(18:49):
only does my brain move fast, but there's multiple people
in there having conversations with me at the same time
about other things in my day at all times. It's like,
I've got my narrator, I've got my conscience, I think,
you know, I've got my you know that that part
of me that likes to daydream, Like I've got all
(19:09):
of that happening in my head at the same time
that I'm having a conversation with somebody else and they
don't know, so it's it's conversation was always really hard
for me, and not that anyone knew, But it was
the first time that I sort of started talking to
(19:31):
my therapist about it and he he brought it up
and he said, well, you're you're you know, you're classic
ADHD And I sort of laughed. I literally laughed out
loud and I was like, You've got to be kidding me.
There's no way. And three started asking me questions and
I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I mean I guess
(19:52):
like every just textbook. So and the I'm on one hand,
I'm so incredibly rachel that I wasn't diagnosed as a child,
incredibly grateful because I learned technique to work through my
ADHD and it became a superpower for me. But having
(20:18):
found out as an adult, I'm much gentle, learn kinder
with myself now than I've ever been before. I was
a lot harder on myself and really sort of mean
in the way that I spoke about myself because I
couldn't listen to people the way that other people could.
Oh wow, yeah yeah. But so the podcast was it
(20:44):
was really funny, So I actually had started. The irony
was that I started the podcast for the show. I
started the YouTube channel back in two thousand and nine,
and then I was just doing fan Q and a's
like that was my way of answer Dan questions. And
then between Another Life, which was my show on Netflix
(21:08):
season one, and Longmire ending it was twenty eighteen, we
were waiting for Netflix to pick up the show. We
were waiting to develop the show with Netflix. We were
then waiting to get to greenlight casts everything else. I
was unemployed for over a year and a half, waiting
(21:28):
for another life to start, and I was incredibly bored.
So that's when I started the YouTube channel with my
boyfriend at the time, and we basically started doing like
Katie did videos, like you know, Katie's going to go
do this, and I'm going to go do that, And
I ran a start and race and I went and
interviewed that about cryo and like freezing my brain and
all of this crazy stuff. And I loved doing that show,
(21:50):
but it was so incredibly time consuming, and my poor
husband like taught himself how to do everything, and it
was like the lion's share of the workfile on one
hundred percent. And so then we stopped doing it, and
then when COVID happened, we started again because we were bored.
So that's sort of there was a down time of
(22:11):
a few months actually, and then we picked back up
again during COVID and then stop doing it because it
was just too much work. There is way too much work.
But I sort of during COVID what I realized came
out of it was this wonderful we all had time again, right,
(22:35):
you know, and all of a sudden you had no
reason to not call your girlfriend at five o'clock on
a Tuesday and have an hour long conversation again. And
so I started doing that with many people weekly. We
had weekly catch ups like the entire time, and when
we went back to work, I missed that, and simultaneously
(22:58):
we were doing conventions again. Was also shut down for
a very long time, and I was realizing that if
I could just put a camera or a microphone in
the green room and the conversations that I get to
have with these actors that I've worked with and some
that I haven't, I think people would want to listen
to that and like just have a conversation, very lighthearted,
(23:24):
very sort of extreme consciousness, like you've landed, You're a
fly on the wall during coffee with two friends and go.
And that's where the podcast came from.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And that's the beauty of what you accomplished with it.
And I know one of the things you're talking about
with your neurodivergence talking with guests or the people that
you're interviewing, and that tendency to interrupt them and how
that really plays into the neurodivergent brain because for some
it's a way to connect with people. You want to
share something related to what they're talking about, because it's
(24:02):
your way of either just having that direct connection, Hey,
I've got a similar story or I've got a similar thing,
versus podcasting where you're really just trying to say, you
know what, I'm interviewing you and I want to stay
out of your way, and that can be a challenge
for someone who is neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, no, for sure. And you know what story does
my guest want to tell? You know, there are two
people in this conversation three you know, there's me, the
guest and the audience. You know, what does the audience
want to hear? What am I curious about? But what
sort does the guests want to tell? Because you know
a lot of people come on they's got something that
(24:42):
they want to talk about, for sure. But then you
know a lot of times, you know someone will come
in and they will be primed for something that's going
on in their life that they haven't talked about before,
where they will just be comfortable enough to say, let's
talk about this right now, and it's just naturally goes there,
you know. And the beautiful thing about my show as
(25:03):
well is that if somebody calls me afterwards and said,
I'm not ready, can we touch that out a hundred percent? Yeah,
we're not live, We'll cut it out. You know, my
show is not a gotcha show. I am not in
the business of making my friends uncomfortable or putting anyone
in a position where they are uncomfortable with what they said,
because they're also comfortable with me. Right off the gate
(25:26):
or right out the gate, we talk about a lot
of things and sometimes, you know, quite often actually I'll
get a phone call and someone will say I don't
know if I want to say this much or I
don't want to do that, and I'm like, okay, great,
let's kick that out. And what that's done is it's
it's just continued to to make people.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
More comfortable when you when you do that, does your
husband do the editing?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
No? I hired producers at this bookay me, no. No.
As soon as I started the podcast, I hired a
producing team. And you know, and because you're exactly right,
I will go through the edit sometimes and sometimes there's
zero notes and sometimes there's one hundred and you know
(26:16):
you don't want to be that guy.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I've got three so far since we've been talking.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
My background in broadcasting, in radio and in TV is
such a big draw for me when it comes to podcasting,
and you have to sort of unlearn certain things from
that format to and even different radio formats. I started
in music, and when I started doing you know, talk radio,
it became a whole different experience. I remember my former
(26:45):
co host saying, you can slow down, we have an
hour to fill, like you can slow down. You're not,
you know, spinning the hits and trying to get an
intro in over a nine second intro of a song.
And that was an adjustment. And then there's an adjustment
into podcasting. So coming at it as an actor, how
how what are some of the things that you feel
like you have had to adjust or make changes in
(27:07):
or is there anything that you can draw from uh
as a podcast or from your acting background?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Oh? You know so funny now is that I can
I can tell instantaneously, uh, what questions are for clip
use and what aren't based on on the question that's asked,
Because you know, I think that. That's the other thing
(27:35):
that sort of happened podcasting now is that I am
now completely aware that viewership makes money, and if you
don't make money, you can't keep podcasting. So every single
person has to have the numbers and the view the views,
and you know, so it's that is the thing that's
(27:57):
been challenging for me because I have like a list
sometimes of like the five questions I know that I
know will do well, and a lot of times I
don't get to any of them because it just wasn't
naturally part of the flow of the conversation. And so
(28:18):
you know, that's not necessarily from a from a you know,
from a clips channel perspective, that's not necessarily the best
way to run things.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But so you just teed me up to ask one
of my questions that I didn't ask because it didn't
flow with it. But I was just going to ask
what it felt like to have your head chopped off
by Michael Myers.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well there you go, see, Well what I really wanted
to ask, And I mean it's sort of and you
can I don't want to interrupt you there, But as
far people talk about uh, like you and McGregor talked
about you know, standing there and looking at at Darth Vader,
like actually standing there with him, and how intimidating it was,
and you know, you had this moment with Michael Myers
(28:57):
and that's like one of the great horror villains of
all time.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, it's creepy that that movie was creepy to even
failm It's creepy. But I wanted to keep my head
and they wouldn't let me. I wanted to like put
it in a tub of like a like a sing
of formaldehyde for Halloween, and they wouldn't let me. I
thought it would be really funny to send it to
my parents because it didn't it didn't look real at all,
(29:22):
like it like it didn't look real, and so I thought,
you know, that would be really funny, and they wouldn't
let me do it.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
In a jar in the fridge would have been a
nice touch at a Halloween, right or something.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's what I thought, you know, turn it into like
a like a punch bowl, like a you know, got
a false bottom or something where the head can like
float in it or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I thought it was cool, but I think that would
have been fantastic or dragon con pregame show right after this.
So you're making your triumphant return to dragon Con as
(30:06):
folks are getting ready to come see you. Any message
for them as they're preparing to make their journey to
Atlanta for Dragon Con twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Oh my gosh, I'm just super excited to be there.
I know that my Mandalorian friends will be there. Emily
Swallow's going, Simon Kesianettas is going to be there, so
I know possibly more, but I just the ones that
I actually saw a couple of weeks ago, so I
know that they're going to be there. I'm only going
(30:34):
to be there Thursday and Friday. They're actually doing something
a little different for me that I don't know if
they've ever done, which normally no one signs on Thursday,
but the con is open Thursday. They're giving me a
table to sign Thursday because I could only go Friday.
I have a family vacation to get to Saturday morning,
and I have to catch a ferry, so we've got
(30:58):
to be there, so I have to have You have
to fly out of Atlanta Friday night.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I love that you prioritize the family trip though. That's great.
It changes things in ways that you're not ready for
when you become a parent, doesn't it, Oh my.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
God, of course of course. And you know, a beautiful
thing happened because I waited so long to have children
in that I've done it, you know. And now if
the only thing I have the luxury of doing for
the rest of my life is being these children's mother.
(31:35):
I'm successful every day in my life, so now I
don't want to miss anything, and I miss things. Of course,
I'm still working, and thankfully my husband is absolutely amazing.
But my family is always first, always first. I worked
so hard, we worked so hard to have children. It
was not easy for us. So it would be crazy
(31:58):
with me work hard, depth children and then not want
to be part of So yeah, it's the best thing
that's ever happened.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
The podcast is The sack Off Show. Katie Sacoff, looking
forward to seeing you at Dragon Con.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Thank you. It's going to be a fun one.
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Our next guest actor, voice actor, and podcasters. She'll be
at dragon Con Labor Day weekend. Katie Sackoff.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome, Hi, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm well, I'm excited about dragon Con, excited that you're
going to be back. How many dragon Cons is this
going to be for you?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You know, I was just thinking about it, and I
can't honestly tell you if it's three or if it's four.
I'm just I'm trying to. Normally, I remember dragon Con
based on who was with me and one memorable like cosplay,
and I can most specifically I've got I've got three,
but they could be from the same one, so I'm
(01:00):
not sure this could be three or this could be four.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, this is going to be number twenty four for
me consecutive. They all run tow for me, but they're
all specially in their own way of course. So what
brings you back to dragon Con? I know this is
you've got you've got your toe or in some cases,
you've done a cannonball into so many different fandoms. So,
but you've at least got a toe in many of them.
(01:22):
And I'm sure when you do different conventions, they're all
different in their own way. But dragon Con is very
unique and special because it's dragon Con.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
M hmmm. I think you know the fact that I
haven't been back to dragon Con in almost ten years,
if not ten years, I think is sort of the reason.
You know dragon Con is is everyone knows it the
biggest show of the year, and I think it's just
one of those things where people just assume you're going,
(01:55):
and when you tell them you're not going, you're like, oh, wow, okay,
And so I think it was about time. It was
just time for me to come back.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You were, you were long overdue as far as the
fandoms go, and I know you're going to get folks
that are going to come to see you about so
many different things. Obviously, Battlestar has been the thing for
a very long time. Now, Star Wars pretty prominent. I know,
Longmire twenty four, you've kind of had, you know, DC
Marvel as far as a voice work that you've done,
(02:25):
been even into the Halloween franchise or Riddick. I mean,
there's a lot represented there, so I know you'll get
folks cosplaying and coming up to see you for a
lot of different things. That's pretty unique when you've got
that thick of a resume, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I think it's really special as what it is is
that you you know, I've been allowed to exist in
so many different fandoms at this point, and and different
mediums of our industry and of the genre work, and
I I just think it's really special. You know, my
career at this point is like almost thirty years and
(03:09):
it's just a It's just a gift, is what it is.
Because sci fi fans are the most supportive and loving
fans out there, and I'm you know, lucky to have them.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Supportive and loving. They have a bit of a reputation
here lately of being a little difficult at times. I
want to kind of kind of go back in time
a little bit to Battle Star and the Starbuck gender swap.
How different would that have played out today or even
in the last five to ten years.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Oh God, A completely different thing, you know, for a
multitude of reasons. I mean, the main reason is that
social media didn't exist. People didn't have a platform to
yell into and out from and so if people were upset,
(04:01):
and they were, they didn't have as large of a
place to go out and reach people and so and
because that, because of that, they didn't have the ability
to form like these gangs, if you will, these angry
mob like you know, fandoms that get really upset that
then find each other and it amplifies the voice. And
(04:25):
so I think that it was allowed to happen for
that reason. But also I think that you know, Starbreck
was a really special character, and I think that she
was written just really well, straight off the off the top,
and I think she won over the majority of the
(04:47):
fan base if they gave it a chance. A lot
of people still haven't for the same reason. And I
find it just really sad, to be honest, but you know,
it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, and you brought the character to life in a
unique and when you're seeing like an Ellen Ripley or
a Sarah Connor kind of coming through in the way
that you you played this role, and you put a
great a description of sort of when you talk about
these sort of gangs that kind of come together. It's
also I feel like in many ways that there's an
(05:20):
expectation and a lot of fandoms where they feel like
they're entitled to things to play out the way that
they were expecting it to play out, and they get
very disappointed, and then that's when they feel angry and
they want to shout from the rooftops.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Well, yeah, and I you know, I mean, I remember
this back in the day when I, you know, had
syried cancer back and right after Battle for ended in
two thousand and eight, and I, you know, went into
my doctor with just this list of things that were
wrong with me, and he said, have you been in
the message groups? I said yes, and he said, happy
(05:54):
people don't go in message groups. Don't go in the
message group. The happy people are just out living their lives.
They don't have time to yell. And I was like, cool, okay,
so I learned then. Great, granted completely different context, but
I and whether it's true or not, that's sort of
(06:15):
how I think about it. I think about it in
the sense that people who are just loving content and
loving the fact that we are continuing to get new
genre projects daily, if not monthly, with all of these
different platforms, I am one of them. I don't even
(06:38):
if I don't like something I have never thought I'm
gonna go yell at people about this, you know, I've
just thought, Okay, that wasn't my cup of tea, cool
and move on. It wasn't for me, you know. But
I do think that you're right. I think that a
lot of people have an expectation. They've built something up,
(07:00):
if it's a remake or continuation of a franchise or
a character that they love, and when it's not exactly
what they wanted, it's heartbreaking for them. And I can
understand that, you know. What I don't understand is the
desire to make everyone know how much you disliked something
(07:24):
or a character or a person or But you know,
I guess that's why I'm not in a message groups.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And it can't be healthy. It can't be good for you,
it can't be good for anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Really.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No or Dragon Con pregame show right after this. My
dad would kill me if I didn't talk to you
about Longmire. He was such a fan of the show
and such a fan of you. He says, Hi, by
(07:58):
the way, when I.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Talk was going to be talking.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I will do that. And it's interesting to me that
we've had this period where uh, sort of the modern
day westerns have really taken a grip. I know that.
You know, for so long we we the the medium
for westerns felt it had to still be set at
a certain time. And then suddenly, you know, we had
(08:23):
shows like you guys, Justified was another really good one,
and then all of a sudden, you know, Yellowstone just
blows up and becomes this huge thing, and it feels
like it was just part of time to tell these
stories in a more modern setting.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I think so too. I think that the a show
like Yellowstone is wonderful as it is, was set up
for success by a lot of shows that came before
it in the genre that with the whistle for people.
You know, you you had, like you said, you had
(09:00):
the Justifies and the Hell on Wheels and the Longmires,
and you know, you had shows that that had real
large fan bases in their small group, you know, I
mean Longmire had it was the the top scripted show
on A and E. It was, it was very popular.
(09:21):
And then you know that that audience followed us over
to Netflix and they're still like just feverish for more.
And so I think a show like Yellowstone, like I said,
that fan base was ready and there was nothing like
it on television, and and all of the shows, the
westerns that were before it had all been canceled, So
(09:44):
there it was the perfect timing for it. And and
I mean the cast and the writing and the you know,
tailor of it all is obviously part of the reason
as well why it succeeded.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And then space westerns come along, shows like Firefly and
we're going to get to mandl in just a second,
but that kind of fits also into that. I mean,
it's just another way of sort of telling those type
stories or going through some of those tropes and things.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Mm hmm, yeah, I mean, of course, I mean it
is just a different way of telling the same sort
of story, you know. I mean Walt Longmire was in
every Man. He was a reluctant hero, and he was flawed,
and he was also like a lone wolf, you know,
(10:33):
he's sort of it was primed for that. You could
have taken that exact same character and put him in
space and it would have felt very much like a
space Western. And so it's a yeah, I love the
fact that we've we've seen a myriad of space westerns
throughout the years as well, because I think that the
(10:53):
genres are really similar to each other in a lot
of ways.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So we're sort of building into this. So we'll get
to Mandalorian, but first we have to talk about Clone
Wars and Rebels. And it's funny because every year I
do this show and inevitably I'll have a voice actor
that I end up booking. This year. As we're setting
up the show, I was asked, well, you don't have
a voice actor yet, and I was like, I have
(11:21):
Katie Sacho. Don't you dare say she's not a voice actor,
but they just met someone who's sort of specific to that. Yeah,
but you're you're And I said, well, she's a fantastic
voice actor, and they said, touche. Never mind, forget the question.
But so you get cast in Star Wars to do
(11:42):
Clone Wars, and then obviously that rolls into Rebels. In
this character Bocatan, which is opening things up into the
Mandalorian world. We were all, you know, me growing up
as a kid, fascinated with Boba Fette. Who is this guy?
What is he about? What's the armor? All that? And
then we got some of these, you know, other stories
(12:04):
that kind of filled us in whether it was in
novelizations and things, so there was an interest there in
who these people are and what they're about. And then
we get introduced to them in this animation and you
get cast to play Boca Tan and they sort of
kind of draw her to look like you a little bit.
So was there any chance anybody else was ever going
(12:28):
to get cast in a live action Boka Tan or
did they kind of paint themselves into a corner or
was there any hope or dream of that happening. Did
you talk to Dave Filoni about I mean, I know
early on this had to be like we're doing this
animated thing, but was there a big picture, eventual thing
that he had in mind or did you guys ever
discuss that It never.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Occurred to me that that would happen. I mean, Dave
says that he always knew that was going to happen,
and that was neat. That was always the intention. But
when have you ever heard of that happening before? It's ever,
it doesn't happen. They don't take an animated show and
go I mean, I guess sometimes they do. You know,
they made teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles animated, so first you know,
(13:14):
they did Gi Joe. So, yes, they have gone back
and taken some of like the animated shows from like
the eighties and nineties and turned them into live actions. Yes,
they have done that, You're right, But I never dreamed
that they would do that, So it never occurred to
me to ask him. And it also never occurred to
me that she looked like me. I kind of thought
(13:37):
she looked like his wife. So in my mind, it
just it just never occurred to me, you know. And primarily,
you know, I came up in the late nineties in
this industry where, you know, there was a huge separation
between TV actors and filmmactors, and I still even though
(14:01):
that does not necessarily exist at all anymore, it injected
doesn't exist at all. I mean, granted, there I guess
there are some actors that you haven't seen do TV yet,
but not many. So I always thought of myself as
just a TV actress that like, if they made a
(14:22):
Mandalorian movie or a Clone Wars movie, that they would
recast me as a film actor. And so when I
sort of cornered Dave at celebration in twenty nineteen or eighteen,
and I sort of jokingly said, you know, so this
Mandalorian show, huh, you know those alive does she does?
(14:47):
She does? She work in this world? He said, yes,
you know. I left it at that. I was like, okay,
that's want snow. And I thought I was just joking.
I mean it was just joking. I was, you know,
rithing in a friend and taking the piss out of
them and sort of being like, why didn't you call buddy?
And I think a few months later we got a
call that John wanted to sit down with me, and
(15:08):
I was like, I'm sorry, what And it didn't occur
to me that they were actually offering me the role
of bo And until a good fifteen twenty minutes into
that meeting with John, and I realized that my face
was already on all the prevows and I was like,
oh my god, Oh I guess this is happening. And
(15:30):
I walked out of there and I called my husband,
who was my boyfriend at the time, and I was like,
I'm not supposed to tell you this. I signed a
really crazy NDA, but I think I'm going to be
in Star Wars. He was like, holy crap. So before
we even got the offer, I think we celebrated because
I knew what was coming and it was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And then they put you in wardrobe and that's when
I think it's like, oh, yeah, that's who she looks like.
That was And I know the wig is certainly a
big part of that. And there's been a lot of
talk about the helmet and the hair. I know that's
not even a real thing. To take that helmet off
and the hair look the way it looks every time now,
(16:13):
And I know there'll be a lot a lot of
Mandalorians and Mandalorian representation at Dragon Con with people wearing
the helmets, and their hair is going to look a
lot different when they take those helmets all for photos.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well it's so funny too because they I constantly get
the question, how did you get the helmet to work
with your hair? Because costs players want to be able
to put the helmet on. I'm so sorry, but I
don't think you're going to be able to do it,
so I don't know if it's possible or you're going
to have to make it so big. It's basically just
(16:45):
the lid and it's not padded at all.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I feel like this next question, even if there's something
to say, you probably can't answer it. I have to
ask it. I'm obligated to ask it, and then you
are obligated to answer it, however, or you're supposed to.
Is there anything you can tell us about Mandalorian and groguh.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
No, No, not at all. What I can say is
that we haven't seen the last of her, and I
do know that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I mean I would hope not, but you know so,
I mean you've just said a little bit. You just
didn't say much, and that's fine if that's all that
you can say.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, that's about That's all I can say. I'm really
excited to see it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, excellent, So so am I more Dragon Con pregame
show right after this. I want to talk about podcasting.
You you during I guess COVID you did what a
(17:52):
lot of people did, and you said, I want to
try something for expression. It was a weird time just
to be alive and not have an outlet for expressing yourself.
And I know you tried some things then and then
you eventually landed at podcasting. Love. I love listening and watching.
(18:13):
It's great hearing you talk with some of the co
stars and people that you have worked with. And I
think I've heard you talk about the fact that it
was in the midst of podcasting that you discovered you
were neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, isn't that crazy. It just never it never
occurred to me that I was. I just I just
thought that I was a really bad communicator, and then
I just didn't listen, and I was like, in some
way rude because my brain moves so fast, and not
(18:49):
only does my brain move fast, but there's multiple people
in there having conversations with me at the same time
about other things in my day at all times. It's like,
I've got my narrator, I've got my conscience, I think,
you know, I've got my you know that that part
of me that likes to daydream, Like I've got all
(19:09):
of that happening in my head at the same time
that I'm having a conversation with somebody else and they
don't know, so it's it's conversation was always really hard
for me, and not that anyone knew, But it was
the first time that I sort of started talking to
(19:31):
my therapist about it and he he brought it up
and he said, well, you're you're you know, you're classic
ADHD And I sort of laughed. I literally laughed out
loud and I was like, You've got to be kidding me.
There's no way. And three started asking me questions and
I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I mean I guess
(19:52):
like every just textbook. So and the I'm on one hand,
I'm so incredibly rachel that I wasn't diagnosed as a child,
incredibly grateful because I learned technique to work through my
ADHD and it became a superpower for me. But having
(20:18):
found out as an adult, I'm much gentle, learn kinder
with myself now than I've ever been before. I was
a lot harder on myself and really sort of mean
in the way that I spoke about myself because I
couldn't listen to people the way that other people could.
Oh wow, yeah yeah. But so the podcast was it
(20:44):
was really funny, So I actually had started. The irony
was that I started the podcast for the show. I
started the YouTube channel back in two thousand and nine,
and then I was just doing fan Q and a's
like that was my way of answer Dan questions. And
then between Another Life, which was my show on Netflix
(21:08):
season one, and Longmire ending it was twenty eighteen, we
were waiting for Netflix to pick up the show. We
were waiting to develop the show with Netflix. We were
then waiting to get to greenlight casts everything else. I
was unemployed for over a year and a half, waiting
(21:28):
for another life to start, and I was incredibly bored.
So that's when I started the YouTube channel with my
boyfriend at the time, and we basically started doing like
Katie did videos, like you know, Katie's going to go
do this, and I'm going to go do that, And
I ran a start and race and I went and
interviewed that about cryo and like freezing my brain and
all of this crazy stuff. And I loved doing that show,
(21:50):
but it was so incredibly time consuming, and my poor
husband like taught himself how to do everything, and it
was like the lion's share of the workfile on one
hundred percent. And so then we stopped doing it, and
then when COVID happened, we started again because we were bored.
So that's sort of there was a down time of
(22:11):
a few months actually, and then we picked back up
again during COVID and then stop doing it because it
was just too much work. There is way too much work.
But I sort of during COVID what I realized came
out of it was this wonderful we all had time again, right,
(22:35):
you know, and all of a sudden you had no
reason to not call your girlfriend at five o'clock on
a Tuesday and have an hour long conversation again. And
so I started doing that with many people weekly. We
had weekly catch ups like the entire time, and when
we went back to work, I missed that, and simultaneously
(22:58):
we were doing conventions again. Was also shut down for
a very long time, and I was realizing that if
I could just put a camera or a microphone in
the green room and the conversations that I get to
have with these actors that I've worked with and some
that I haven't, I think people would want to listen
to that and like just have a conversation, very lighthearted,
(23:24):
very sort of extreme consciousness, like you've landed, You're a
fly on the wall during coffee with two friends and go.
And that's where the podcast came from.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And that's the beauty of what you accomplished with it.
And I know one of the things you're talking about
with your neurodivergence talking with guests or the people that
you're interviewing, and that tendency to interrupt them and how
that really plays into the neurodivergent brain because for some
it's a way to connect with people. You want to
share something related to what they're talking about, because it's
(24:02):
your way of either just having that direct connection, Hey,
I've got a similar story or I've got a similar thing,
versus podcasting where you're really just trying to say, you
know what, I'm interviewing you and I want to stay
out of your way, and that can be a challenge
for someone who is neurodivergent.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, no, for sure. And you know what story does
my guest want to tell? You know, there are two
people in this conversation three you know, there's me, the
guest and the audience. You know, what does the audience
want to hear? What am I curious about? But what
sort does the guests want to tell? Because you know
a lot of people come on they's got something that
(24:42):
they want to talk about, for sure. But then you
know a lot of times, you know someone will come
in and they will be primed for something that's going
on in their life that they haven't talked about before,
where they will just be comfortable enough to say, let's
talk about this right now, and it's just naturally goes there,
you know. And the beautiful thing about my show as
(25:03):
well is that if somebody calls me afterwards and said,
I'm not ready, can we touch that out a hundred percent? Yeah,
we're not live, We'll cut it out. You know, my
show is not a gotcha show. I am not in
the business of making my friends uncomfortable or putting anyone
in a position where they are uncomfortable with what they said,
because they're also comfortable with me. Right off the gate
(25:26):
or right out the gate, we talk about a lot
of things and sometimes, you know, quite often actually I'll
get a phone call and someone will say I don't
know if I want to say this much or I
don't want to do that, and I'm like, okay, great,
let's kick that out. And what that's done is it's
it's just continued to to make people.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
More comfortable when you when you do that, does your
husband do the editing?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
No? I hired producers at this bookay me, no. No.
As soon as I started the podcast, I hired a
producing team. And you know, and because you're exactly right,
I will go through the edit sometimes and sometimes there's
zero notes and sometimes there's one hundred and you know
(26:16):
you don't want to be that guy.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I've got three so far since we've been talking.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
My background in broadcasting, in radio and in TV is
such a big draw for me when it comes to podcasting,
and you have to sort of unlearn certain things from
that format to and even different radio formats. I started
in music, and when I started doing you know, talk radio,
it became a whole different experience. I remember my former
(26:45):
co host saying, you can slow down, we have an
hour to fill, like you can slow down. You're not,
you know, spinning the hits and trying to get an
intro in over a nine second intro of a song.
And that was an adjustment. And then there's an adjustment
into podcasting. So coming at it as an actor, how
how what are some of the things that you feel
like you have had to adjust or make changes in
(27:07):
or is there anything that you can draw from uh
as a podcast or from your acting background?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Oh? You know so funny now is that I can
I can tell instantaneously, uh, what questions are for clip
use and what aren't based on on the question that's asked,
Because you know, I think that. That's the other thing
(27:35):
that sort of happened podcasting now is that I am
now completely aware that viewership makes money, and if you
don't make money, you can't keep podcasting. So every single
person has to have the numbers and the view the views,
and you know, so it's that is the thing that's
(27:57):
been challenging for me because I have like a list
sometimes of like the five questions I know that I
know will do well, and a lot of times I
don't get to any of them because it just wasn't
naturally part of the flow of the conversation. And so
(28:18):
you know, that's not necessarily from a from a you know,
from a clips channel perspective, that's not necessarily the best
way to run things.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But so you just teed me up to ask one
of my questions that I didn't ask because it didn't
flow with it. But I was just going to ask
what it felt like to have your head chopped off
by Michael Myers.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well there you go, see, Well what I really wanted
to ask, And I mean it's sort of and you
can I don't want to interrupt you there, But as
far people talk about uh, like you and McGregor talked
about you know, standing there and looking at at Darth Vader,
like actually standing there with him, and how intimidating it was,
and you know, you had this moment with Michael Myers
(28:57):
and that's like one of the great horror villains of
all time.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, it's creepy that that movie was creepy to even
failm It's creepy. But I wanted to keep my head
and they wouldn't let me. I wanted to like put
it in a tub of like a like a sing
of formaldehyde for Halloween, and they wouldn't let me. I
thought it would be really funny to send it to
my parents because it didn't it didn't look real at all,
(29:22):
like it like it didn't look real, and so I thought,
you know, that would be really funny, and they wouldn't
let me do it.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
In a jar in the fridge would have been a
nice touch at a Halloween, right or something.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's what I thought, you know, turn it into like
a like a punch bowl, like a you know, got
a false bottom or something where the head can like
float in it or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I thought it was cool, but I think that would
have been fantastic or dragon con pregame show right after this.
So you're making your triumphant return to dragon Con as
(30:06):
folks are getting ready to come see you. Any message
for them as they're preparing to make their journey to
Atlanta for Dragon Con twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Oh my gosh, I'm just super excited to be there.
I know that my Mandalorian friends will be there. Emily
Swallow's going, Simon Kesianettas is going to be there, so
I know possibly more, but I just the ones that
I actually saw a couple of weeks ago, so I
know that they're going to be there. I'm only going
(30:34):
to be there Thursday and Friday. They're actually doing something
a little different for me that I don't know if
they've ever done, which normally no one signs on Thursday,
but the con is open Thursday. They're giving me a
table to sign Thursday because I could only go Friday.
I have a family vacation to get to Saturday morning,
and I have to catch a ferry, so we've got
(30:58):
to be there, so I have to have You have
to fly out of Atlanta Friday night.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I love that you prioritize the family trip though. That's great.
It changes things in ways that you're not ready for
when you become a parent, doesn't it, Oh my.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
God, of course of course. And you know, a beautiful
thing happened because I waited so long to have children
in that I've done it, you know. And now if
the only thing I have the luxury of doing for
the rest of my life is being these children's mother.
(31:35):
I'm successful every day in my life, so now I
don't want to miss anything, and I miss things. Of course,
I'm still working, and thankfully my husband is absolutely amazing.
But my family is always first, always first. I worked
so hard, we worked so hard to have children. It
was not easy for us. So it would be crazy
(31:58):
with me work hard, depth children and then not want
to be part of So yeah, it's the best thing
that's ever happened.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
The podcast is The sack Off Show. Katie Sacoff, looking
forward to seeing you at Dragon Con.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Thank you. It's going to be a fun one.
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