She was gearing up to be an integral part of the story but her contract with Disney+ was terminated in 2021 after a series of offensive tweets. If you missed the controversy, here’s why Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian.
The Mandalorian premiered in 2019. The series is set five years after the events of 1983’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and stars Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, also known as The Mandalorian, a lone bounty hunter who goes on the run to protect the Force-sensitive child, Grogu. The show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020 and won seven awards at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards that year.
Carano played Cara Dune, an Alderaanian warrior who ultimately rose to the rank of marshal of the New Republic. Dune was a strong ally to protagonist Din Djarin and baby Grogu and before becoming marshal, Dune worked as a mercenary for hire on Nevarro for Greef Karga. But her character was abruptly terminated from the show going forward, here’s why.
Why was Gina Carano fired from The Mandalorian?
Why was Gina Carano fired from The Mandalorian? She was fired in February 2021 after sharing a series of offensive social media posts, one of which compared the US’s current political divide to Nazi Germany—that being a Republican was akin to being a Jew during the Holocaust.
Gina Carano as Cara Dune.
She also shared posts that mocked mask-wearing during the Covid pandemic and appeared to support false allegations of voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election. In response, Lucasfilm released a statement condemning her viewpoint and announced she “is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement, per the Hollywood Reporter. “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The former MMA fighter was also dropped as a client by United Talent Agency (UTA). It turns out Carano had developed a pattern of behavior, according to an insider. “They have been looking for a reason to fire her for two months, and today was the final straw,” a source with knowledge of Lucasfilm’s thinking told THR at the time. Disney had planned to unveil Carano as a star of her own series, but they scrapped those plans in light of her social media activity.
How did The Mandalorian write out Cara Dune?
How did The Mandalorian write out Cara Dune? The character of Cara Dune still exists in the show but obviously she won’t appear on screen. Speaking with StyleCaster’s sister site Deadline, the show’s executive producer Rick Famuyiwa explained. “Cara was a big part and continues as a character to be part of the world,” he said. “It had to be addressed in the creative, and [Jon Favreau] took the time to think about that. It was something that was discussed as we knew it was going to have impact on the show, but at the same time, what has been at the heart of the show are the two characters—Din Djarin and Grogu—so ultimately it felt like a servicing of that, and around the Mandalorians.”
Deadline asked if Dune is just out there in the universe doing what she does best; bounty-hunting. EP Dave Filoni said: “It’s a big galaxy, and we have many characters in it—many characters are fighting for their screen time. We’ll just have to see as the season unfolds what the adventures are, but it’s a great character, someone who was vital to Din Djarin’s beginnings; we’ll see if he has evolved beyond that.” He added: “Now Season 3 is mainly dealing with Mandalorians and the Mandalorian saga, the Mandalorian tale. [There are] different characters he’s met since Bo-Katan [who] take a lot more prominence, which makes sense where his arc is going, the story of him and Grogu specifically.”
Baby Yoda, The Mandalorian. Image: Disney+/Lucasfilm
Creator Jon Favreau confirmed to Variety in February 2023 that he’s already written season four of The Mandalorian. “Season four, yeah I’ve written it already,” Favreau said. “We have to know where we’re going to tell a fully formed story. We had mapped it out, [executive producer] Dave [Filoni] and I, and slowly you start to write each episode. I was writing it during post-production. All of it has to feel like a continuation and one full story.”
Favreau continued, “[Dave’s] doing Ahsoka, which I’m producing with him. He’s the writer and showrunner on that. To understand what’s happening on other shows….Skeleton Crew all take place within the same ‘Star Wars’ time period. There’s a lot more things that we’ve got to keep in mind and also stuff that we’ve built up to from previous seasons of The Mandalorian as well.”
Favreau also confirmed to Total Film in August 2022 that season four will not be the last season of The Mandalorian. “No, I don’t [have an ending in mind],” Favreau said. “I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story. And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters, I think that how these characters fit into the larger scope and scale, but it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind. Quite the contrary, I love for these stories to go on and on. And so these characters potentially could be with us for a while, and I really love telling stories in their voice, and I love the way the adventures unfold and I’m looking forward to doing much more.”
The Mandalorian season 3 is available to stream on Disney Plus. Here’s how to watch it for free.
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