If you’re a science fiction fan, you’re already familiar with Katee Sackhoff. Between her appearances as Lieutenant Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on Battlestar Galactica, Bo-Katan Kryze on The Mandalorian, Amunet Black on The Flash, Dahl in Riddick, and Niko Breckinridge on Another Life, Sackhoff has established herself as the go-to action heroine in the genre space. If you need a sci-fi badass, she’s the woman you call.

But unfortunately, that kind of reputation comes with a price. “For better or worse, I am very much associated with strong, physically fit, very capable, independent, healthy women. My weight has been a topic of discussion in this industry for so many years,” Sackhoff tells Looper in an exclusive interview. “I started acting when I was 17, and I was known for a very long time as the chubby girl from the Max Bickford show, or the show with Richard Dreyfuss. And, it was like, ‘I’m a size eight.’ I didn’t understand.”

That’s one of the big reasons why Sackhoff started her YouTube channel Blood, Sweat & Coffee, which gives an in-depth and unflinchingly honest look at how Sackhoff trains for her physically demanding roles, shapes her body according to the character she’s playing, and maintains a healthy lifestyle. “People, men and women, look up to me, and they’ve asked me questions about what I do. And I wanted to be as honest as possible and I wanted to show the works and all,” Sackhoff explains.

After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer near the end of filming on Battlestar Galactica, undergoing surgery, remaining in remission for over a decade, she’s committed herself to being as healthy as possible. On average, she trains five days a week, spending between 30 minutes to an hour working out. Her routine changes regularly, too. As she describes on Sweat, Blood & Coffee, Sackhoff works hard to ensure that every character she plays has a different body type — Longmire’s Vic Moretti is curvier than Riddick’s Dahl, for example — and as she gets older, she adjusts her workouts accordingly.

Suffice to say, Sackhoff is about as healthy as she’s ever been, but getting fit did have a big drawback: After years in show business, Sackhoff suddenly couldn’t remember her lines.

For that, Sackhoff blames smoking — or the lack thereof. “I quit smoking 10 years ago, and when I quit smoking, I couldn’t memorize dialogue for a good handful of years,” she says. “I [thought], ‘What the hell? I have to figure something out.'” 

Before, Sackhoff would sit with a cigarette in one hand and a script in the other, chain-smoking as she learned her lines. “What I realized is that, because of the repetitive nature of memorizing dialogue, I had to be doing something else at the same time,” she explains to Looper. Without smoking to help, Sackhoff had to find something else.

Cardio was the answer. “I get on a treadmill with my script or I walk around the neighborhood, talking to myself. People think I’m insane. And I memorize my dialogue,” Sackhoff says. “That’s what I do. So, I get my cardio in as I’m flipping pages. I do probably an hour a day of just walking on a treadmill.”

Keeping busy like that is a recurring theme in Sackhoff’s life. In fact, it’s why she started Sweat, Blood & Coffee in the first place. “We’re in an industry that is very much dependent on people hiring you. And there are times where that can take its toll on you emotionally and creatively,” she says. “I was [thinking], ‘I am just bored. I need to create something. I need to do something.'” And so, she decided to share her fitness journey with the world. The rest? Well, you can see that for yourself.

You can find more about Sackhoff’s fitness regimen, as well as all other kinds of helpful information and advice, on Blood, Sweat & Coffee. Meanwhile, her recent appearances on The Mandalorian can be found on Disney+, while the next season of her Netflix series Another Life is expected to drop later this year.

Danielle Harris, Brian Austin Green and Candice Bergen will guest star on upcoming episodes of “The Conners,” ABC announced Tuesday.

Harris previously recurred on the fifth season of “Roseanne” in 1993 as Molly Tilden, the Conners’ next-door neighbor and a high school rival for David’s (Johnny Galecki) affection. She will reprise the character for one episode airing April 7. Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and Molly were once enemies, but now, 30 years later, they find themselves having had similar lives and become close.

Green will appear on two upcoming episodes as Jeff, a “quirky, free spirit traveler who lives out of his van.”

Earlier this season, Bergen made her debut on “The Conners” as Ben’s (Jay R. Ferguson) mother, Barb. Despite being from Lanford, Barb “has a superior air and a sharp tongue, but she’s much more agreeable when she’s had a few drinks.” She will return to the series for two more episodes.

“The Conners” returned for its third season at ABC last fall. The series stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara, Jayden Rey and Jay R. Ferguson. It is executive produced by Tom Werner, along with Sara Gilbert, Bruce Helford, Dave Caplan, Bruce Rasmussen and Tony Hernandez. The series is from Werner Entertainment.

According to new intel, cult favorite horror director Rob Zombie is helming a Munsters movie in which he’ll put his unique, R-rated spin on Herman, Lily and the rest of the supernatural brood. Originally created as CBS’ answer to ABC’s The Addams Family, 60s sitcom The Munsters hasn’t really enjoyed the same rich afterlife as the Addams, but maybe that’s about to change with this reboot.

Insider Charles Murphy of Murphy’s Multiverse shares that Zombie has been hired to write and direct a Munsters film for Universal. His wife and frequent collaborator, Sheri Moon Zombie, will play vampire housewife Lily, with another of Zombie’s regular actors, Jeff Daniel Phillips, set to portray her Frankenstein’s Monster-like husband Herman. Dan Roebuck, Jorge Garcia and Richard Broke have likewise been cast in major roles. And, last but not least, Cassandra Peterson AKA Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, will also be involved in a supporting part.

The Munsters originally ran for two seasons between 1964-1966, but there’ve been a couple of (failed) attempts to modernize the franchise over the past decade. Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller produced comedy-drama Mockingbird Lane in 2012, but it never got past the pilot stage. Then, in 2017, it was announced that Seth Meyers was helming a reboot focusing on the family living in contemporary Brooklyn, though nothing ended up coming of that.

A Rob Zombie take on the clan is easily the wildest concept for a Munsters revival we can think of, though. That said, Zombie’s known to be a huge fan of the original series and has referenced the show a few times in his music career. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, the rock star/filmmaker claimed to have seen every episode “at least 17 times.” So, maybe he is the most qualified person to relaunch the inhabitants of 1313 Mockingbird Lane for the 2020s.

The Strode family will return later this year in David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills, a sequel to the 2018 version of Halloween that will pick up after Laurie Strode, Allyson Strode and Karen Strode locked Michael Myers in Laurie’s basement and burnt the whole damn house down. Michael is still alive, of course, and he’s more pissed off than ever before.

Andi Matichak is back as Allyson in Halloween Kills, and speaking with Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast this week, Matichak teases Michael’s fury in this year’s sequel.

“It is… a movie that I think fans will be very happy with,” Matichak tells the show. “It’s big, and it’s bad, and it’s mean. And we see Michael… I think Laurie, Allyson and Karen pissed him off a little bit, by locking him in the basement, because his retaliation is next level.”

Matichak also spoke about the film’s delayed release due to the pandemic, which pushed it from an original date of October 2020 into the current date of October 15, 2021.

“Ya know, of course it’s a bummer, you want the movie to come out. Fans were really excited, we’re all excited to see the finished product,” Matichak explains. “But at the end of the day, one of the beauties of horror movies is watching it with the horror community, and seeing it in a theater with the acoustics – and of course you want to hear John Carpenter’s score, in a theater. It’s just different. And it carries a bigger punch. This movie in particular… it’s so big, chaotic, vicious and awesome. It deserves to be seen in a theater. And we weren’t able to do that last year. And that’s just the sad fact of it. And hopefully we’re able to do it this year. And if we’re not, I’m sure it’ll be released VOD or however they do it, but it’ll be out this year for sure.”

The actress adds, “If we have the potential of seeing the film together and all celebrating it properly, and seeing it in the way it deserves to be seen, then it was the right move.”