Ronald D. Moore Answers “What Is Starbuck?” on Battlestar Galactica

It’s been more than 15 years since Battlestar Galactica wrapped up its epic run on SYFY, and according to star Katee Sackhoff, there’s still one question she gets above all others: “What is Starbuck?”

The evolution of fighter pilot Kara “Starbuck” Thrace as a warrior, a leader, and ultimately a kind of metaphysical puzzle near the end of the series remains one of the great lingering mysteries of BSG, one that’s produced numerous fan theories and critical assessments even in the years since the show went off the air. It’s no wonder, then, that Sackhoff gets the question a lot, and it’s also no wonder that she wanted to pass the question on to showrunner Ronald D. Moore.

Ronald D. Moore on Starbuck’s mysterious role in Battlestar Galactica

Moore, who’s since gone on to work on hit shows like Outlander, recently stopped by Sackhoff’s podcast The Sackhoff Show to discuss BSG memories and the show’s legacy, and Sackhoff put the “what is Starbuck?” question to him directly. According to Moore, Starbuck’s true identity by the end of the series is a mystery, yes, but not because he and the show’s writers figured it all out and then opted not to tell anyone. It’s a mystery because he, as the driving creative force behind the story, simply decided that mystery was better than a clean solution.

“It was a process of trying to figure that out, and I think in the end, I opted to not decide, because every answer that we came up with was unsatisfying to what I thought she was,” Moore explained. “And what I thought she was was something kind of undefinable. Didn’t want her to be an angel, didn’t want her to be a Jesus figure that had died and been resurrected, but was part of the unknowable that had come to us and become tangible.”

According to Moore, the big issue with not deciding was the conundrum it created for the series finale, in which Starbuck famously vanishes into thin air after helping lead the colonists to their new home of prehistoric Earth. It was time for one of the show’s most crucial creative decisions: Did the writers finally narrow down Starbuck’s nature, or did they leave the mystery intact?

In the end, despite exploring a number of possible explanations pulled from religious traditions around the world, Moore and the writers decided that there simply was no answer to the question. 

“Every we time we gave it a name, and every time we said, ‘This is what she is,’ I kinda felt like the mystery was gone and the special quality was gone, and I decided at the end, ‘I’m just not gonna say what she is, and we’re just gonna leave the audience with that,'” Moore said.

Despite a decade and a half of questions from fans, and the occasional nagging moment in which he wonders if he made the right decision, Moore told Sackhoff that he still thinks the non-answer was the correct answer all along.

“I kinda still feel like I’m glad I did it, and I just love the moment that you disappear, and Lee turns around and you’re gone, that’s one of my favorite moments in that finale,” Moore said.

So there you have it, once and for all. The real answer to the question “what is Starbuck?” is that there is no answer. It’s just one of many lingering storytelling choices that make Battlestar Galactica one of the best TV series of the 21st century.