Sackhoff Wants Starbuck to Find Peace
We stand hours away from the most anticipated science fiction event of the year, the fourth and final season of acclaimed drama Battlestar Galactica.
That show was going to live or die by the controversial casting of Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck, an unapologetically male character in the first series. Longtime fans were incited to riot, boycotts were threatened and much scorn was heaped upon SciFi Channel. After all, that would be akin to saying you were remaking Star Wars and Luke Skywalker was now a woman. Move along, nothing to see here.
Looking back, that decision was one of the best moves the show could have made. Before this ride launches one last time, Sackhoff stopped to reflect on what this show and her part in it have meant to a legion of fiercely loyal fans.
“I think what made people accept Starbuck as a woman was that she was just such an interesting character,” Sackhoff said. “I think once people put their guards down in terms of their preconceived notions of what the show was supposed to be, and just allowed it to be really good science fiction, I think that’s also probably the same time people accepted Starbuck as a woman.”
Ironically, Sackhoff seems to have come full circle in sci fi. While almost no one wanted her to be Starbuck at the beginning of this series, just the opposite happened with Bionic Woman. Critics and fans were calling for a reboot of the reboot, focusing on Sackhoff’s Sarah Corvus character.
While the actress agreed that Corvus was a “better written” character, she said there was no offscreen drama between her and series star Michelle Ryan.
Sackhoff didn’t pull punches in her evaluation of her current character. She said people have come to rely on Starbuck not because she’s trustworthy, but because she’s the best pilot in the fleet. The character has grown over the past three years and Sackhoff said at the end of it all, she just hopes Starbuck finds peace in “whatever form that comes in.”
Oooh, cryptic. It looked like Starbuck had gone to be with the gods last season, but some way she returned and claims she’s been to Earth. Sackhoff, like every member of this cast, is constantly on guard against letting any spoilers slip through her lips. But she said she is up for anything, whether it’s her character’s death or being revealed as a Cylon.
Some of her Galactica co-stars were considerably less thrilled to find out they were Cylons.
“They were pretty angry,” she said. “I still think Michael Hogan (Col. Saul Tigh) hasn’t come to terms with it. I don’t think he’s ready to accept it yet.”
But that’s the world of Galactica. Your truth can change in seconds, whether you’re a viewer or an actor. And while the cast has apparently been told who the 12th and final Cylon is, Sackhoff said she won’t truly believe until that episode airs.
Battlestar Galactica’s fourth season premieres April 4 at 10 p.m.
SCI FI Channel Photo: Carole Segal
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