Lucasfilm officially cutting ties with Gina Carano raises a big question: how will The Mandalorian handle her character Cara Dune moving forward?
As a character, Cara Dune has been well received by the show’s audience and Gina Carano’s MMA experience made her uniquely suited to her role in the action series. However, around the time The Mandalorian season two aired, Carano started receiving online backlash due to her social media activity. This included disparaging posts about the transgender community and sharing anti-mask memes. The final straw came when she posted comparing America’s treatment of Republicans to that of Jews in Nazi Germany.
Cara Dune was set to play a significant role in The Mandalorian season three and the Disney Star Wars franchise moving forward, but in the current scenario, where the character goes moving forward is in question. Recasting would certainly be an option. Lucy Lawless of Xena: Warrior Princess fame is currently the fan favourite replacement if Lucasfilm chooses to take this route. Instead, they may to choose to move away from the controversy by writing the character out of future seasons and spinoff shows.
There’s also the question of whether Carano could return to Star Wars. It’s not unprecedented to for Disney to backtrack on dismissals. James Gunn was fired as a director on Guardians of the Galaxy over his history of tweets about sensitive subjects. However, in that case the tweets were from the past and Gunn issued an apology. Fans of Carano should definitely not be getting their hopes up for a reinstatement.
