On Tuesday, it was reported (via The Hollywood Reporter) that Disney might recast the role of Cara Dune on The Mandalorian following its firing of Gina Carano. However, a Disney representative confirmed to Indie Wire that this is not the case and that Cara Dune is done.
Carano was fired last week after posting a story to Instagram in which she compared being conservative in the United States at this time to being a Jew in Nazi Germany. This is just the latest in a string of controversial social media posts in which she mocked mask-wearing, suggested voter fraud in the 2020 election, and made fun of transgender pronouns. It should be noted that her co-star, Pedro Pascal has a transgender sibling.) She was excluded from The Mandalorian S2 press junket after she refused to issue an apology prepared by the studio for her transphobic remarks.
On February 10, a Lucasfilm representative stated:
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano claims that she learned of her firing via social media.
“I found out through social media, like everyone else, that I had been fired.”
It had previously been rumored that Carano’s Dune would be the focus of her own spin-off series, Rangers of the New Republic, but a representative for Disney states that the studio was not in negotiations with her for future work.
A fan petition called for Lucy Lawless (and for that matter Don Cheadle) to replace Carano, but now it sounds as though the character is just being written out of the show and the Star Wars saga as a whole.
Since Carano’s firing, Hasbro has announced that it will no longer manufacture Cara Dune action figures. It appears that Amazon has pulled her merchandise, but prices for her various toys and other items have skyrocketed on eBay. Conservative Senator Ted Cruz and pundit Ben Shapiro have spoken out in Carano’s defense. Carano will next produce a movie via Shapiro’s Daily Mail.
At this point, it sounds like this is the end of the Gina Carano/Cara Dune saga. But should anything change, we’ll let you know!
