“Look, it’s me. I’m here. Deal with it. Let’s move on.”
– Don Cheadle’s first lines of dialogue as Colonel James Rhoades in Iron Man 2
Star Wars fans are nothing if not passionate. Last week the news broke that Disney had fired The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano following several controversial posts to her social media accounts. The majority of fans seem to be falling into one of two camps; those upset with Disney for firing her over her opinions, and those who are glad to see her gone. Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s certainly been an interesting couple of days for fans of the Star Wars franchise.
On The Mandalorian, Gina Carano portrayed former Rebel soldier Cara Dune, a soldier of fortune (at least when we met her) and companion of our lead hero The Mandalorian (real name Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal). While a new strong female character was welcomed with open arms by the Star Wars fanbase, many fans did not agree with many of Carano’s political stances or the opinions she expressed on her personal social media accounts, which led to a mixed response to the actress herself. Over the past year or so since The Mandalorian first premiered in late 2019, the hashtag #FireGinaCarano has trended several times on Twitter, which may or may not have contributed to Disney’s decision to end their working relationship with the actress.
Now that Carano has been removed from her role on The Mandalorian, fans are torn as to how they want the show to proceed around her Cara Dune character. Should they just write her out? Should she be “off on her own adventures” and never mentioned again? Killed offscreen? Or recast entirely with a new actor in the role? One group of fans seems to have to perfect solution in mind and have started a petition for Disney to recast the role with the perfect man for the job: Don Cheadle.
Now we know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t Don Cheadle both a different gender and a different race than Gina Carano and therefore the character of Cara Dune?“. Absolutely. And while Cheadle is certainly a unique choice for the role, he is also more than capable of taking over roles previously portrayed by another actor that Disney decided they were no longer going to be working with. After all, one of Cheadle’s most iconic roles is that of Colonel James Rhoades (aka War Machine) in the Iron Man franchise; a role which he famously took over in Iron Man 2 after Disney parted ways with Terrance Howard who had played the character in the first Iron Man film. Cheadle has since appeared as the character a half-dozen times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even has his own show, Armor Wars, coming up on the Disney+ subscription streaming service.
A group of Star Wars fans has launched a petition on Change.org titled “Hire Don Cheadle to replace Gina Carano as Cara Dune in The Mandalorian“. While it may seem like a joke that is all in good fun, at the time of this writing, the petition has already gathered over 3000 signatures towards its 5000 signature goal in just a few days. The description for the reasoning behind the petition is included below:
After the success of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man (2008), production quickly began on a sequel. During pre-production, actor Terrence Howard (who played James Rhodes, AKA War Machine) dropped out of the film due to contract disagreements. This left an urgent need for Favreau to recast the character. The man who stepped up to fill the role?
Don Cheadle.
Today, Favreau is the showrunner for The Mandalorian on Disney+. With the news of Gina Carano being fired from the role of Cara Dune, Jon Favreau faces the same problem he did over a decade ago. The solution here is obvious: bring in the expert. Don Cheadle has already proven to the world that he can not only pick up where another actor left off, but elevate a character to a place we haven’t seen before. Cara Dune is an interesting, open-ended character that many Star Wars fans have come to enjoy on screen. There are still endless opportunities to tell a story with this character, and it would be a shame to let the character disappear because of the actions of one actress.
We need the Cheadle.
It is worth noting that nowhere in its description does this petition suggest a logical way to explain why Cheadle would actually be the best fit for the role. That said, this petition still makes an absolutely strong case for this completely ridiculous casting choice for the character.
It also seems incredibly fitting that The Mandalorian was created by its showrunner, Jon Favreau; the same man who directed both Iron Man and Iron Man 2. As Favreau has worked with Cheadle directly before (and in a similar recasting situation no less) this could theoretically be the perfect storm of ridiculous circumstances to see this petition’s goal come to fruition.
While Gina Carano is no longer part of the series and Don Cheadle is not (yet) involved in any official capacity, The Mandalorian is still set to star Pedro Pascal (Game Of Thrones), Carl Weathers (Predator), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Temura Morrison (Aquaman), Ming-Na Wen (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), and a seemingly endless number of puppeteers that operate everyone’s favorite green puppet since Kermit The Frog, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda, aka The Child).
Season 3 of The Mandalorian does not currently have a formal release date, although it is set to start filming this Spring with an anticipated release sometime in 2022. In the meantime, fans have plenty to look forward to with the various The Mandalorian spinoff series on the way like Ahsoka, Rangers Of The New Republic, and of course The Book Of Boba Fett (which premieres in December 2021!). Hopefully, between now and the time The Mandalorian Season 3 airs, fans will have a better idea of how Disney plans on handling the Cara Dune situation. Here’s hoping for Cheadle!
You can sign the petition here!
What do you think of this suggestion to cast Don Cheadle as the new Cara Dune? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more Star Wars updates!
