Katee Sackhoff: You know what’s funny is I think that had this been the first year where they had new people come out, I think that it would be awkward but because this is a show where every season they have someone new, if not multiple people new, they’re used to it. So Kiefer [Sutherland], Mary Lynn [Rasjkub] and the crew and are pretty much just like, “Hey, you’re the new girl, Hi, how are you? Welcome.” Because it’s been really great that way. Also, I couldn’t have found a more similar situation to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Its subject matter, not only subject matter but the crew is like a family. The shooting schedule is very similar to BATTLESTAR so for me, it was a very, very easy transition and it’s been great.
Are you f***ing kidding me? Like I don’t have to walk around with secrets anymore? I’m sorry to swear at you. No, it’s very funny that you say that because I went from a show that’s clouded in this secrecy of who the Cylons are and blah blah blah blah blah and then I come to a show where I’m told right before I come out here, “You can’t tell them anything. You do know that, right?” So it’s very similar. I think that because 24 airs so quickly, in fact that episodes come out so fast, that you kind of have to keep everything very secret because there are so many twists and turns that if I were to sit here and say some random thing, if it was a Starbuck thing, like I die in an episode or something, it could potentially ruin the entire season. So it’s one of those things where you just kind of have to keep your mouth shut, which I got accustomed to on BATTLESTAR.
I tried that. I did a pilot that was very interesting and funny and it just didn’t get picked up. I think something that I always thought that I would fight against is being typecast because I started out in comedy. That’s kind of where I should be or whatever and I just happened to end up on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. So for me, I was like no, I’m going to do something different to prove that I can. Then I kind of thought to myself, “Well, that’s kind of stupid. If I have this fan base over here that wants to see me do this, why am I then on purpose going over here just to prove that I can?” When in reality I’m probably more cast-able and likeable on this side of things. So I kind of pulled myself back, came to that realization and I think everyone would be really happy to see me on 24.
Yeah! When I came in and sat down with the producers and writers, we had a discussion as far as what they wanted from me and what I wanted to do and hopefully we met in the middle, so we’ll see. Because I wanted to just blow sh*t up and they were like, “I don’t know if we can do that.”
I think, when I read the final script or when I saw that they were pulling her away from Apollo, it just was naturally happening on the show, and I think I realized that when he had such a hard time losing Dee, I realized that he and Starbuck probably weren’t going to end up together just because of how grief stricken he was. And I was like well, knowing that Starbuck, from what the writers have told me and what Ron Moore told me is that the Starbuck you know is dead. I said, ‘I want her to have peace.’ I’ve always said that. When people are like, ‘What would be your end for Starbuck?’ I was like I just want her to be at peace. In some way, shape or form to just have some sort of closure for herself. I said, ‘She’s never going to walk into the sunset with Apollo. That’s never going to happen.’ So I slowly, Michael Trucco and I, kind of slowly had our characters come together. You don’t change dialogue. You just linger on things. You change the intention of what a line was and then all of a sudden now you’re more in love with this person. So when she at the end was saying goodbye to him, I think that she was saying goodbye to their bodily forms. I think she knew, especially if he says, ‘I’ll see you on the other side,’ I think she’s with him. I think they’re both dead but I think she’s with him. That was a decision that we made because I selfishly wanted her at peace and the only way to do that was to have her with someone at the end, or to be with the person she wanted to be with. I don’t know. That’s kind of where I think she is. She’s with Michael Trucco playing pyramid in the sky somewhere. 
Related:
• On the Set of 24 with Katee Sackhoff (NSFW)