The Mandalorian actress and former MMA fighter Gina Carano has revealed her first project since being fired from her role in the Star Wars series. Carano appeared in seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian as Cara Dune, a former Rebel shock trooper and ally to Din Djarin/The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal). She began pursuing a career in film in the late 2000s, and her previous credits include Deadpool, Haywire, and Fast & Furious 6.
In February of this year, Carano made several posts on social media (some of which she later removed) that were deemed to be highly offensive by many users. One of the posts related to the death of notorious convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while another equated the treatment of Republicans in the United States to that of Jewish people by Nazis during the Holocaust. The posts were not the first of Carano’s to prove extremely controversial. The actress’ social media posts previously caused her to be labelled transphobic, alt-right, racist, and an anti-masker (after she made light of people wearing masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Eventually, the hashtag #FireGinaCarano began trending on Twitter, and outraged users called on Lucasfilm to drop her from the show. On February 10, in addition to her removal from The Mandalorian series, Lucasfilm confirmed that the actress will not appear in any of the studio’s future projects.
According to Deadline, Carano has secured her first role since her exit from The Mandalorian. The actress is set to star in a so-far untitled upcoming film written by Eric Red (Blue Steel, The Hitcher), which will be based on his novel White Knuckle. Carano will play a traumatized but strong-willed woman who survives an attempt by a serial killer known as “White Knuckle.” Haunted by her encounter and infuriated by the police’s failure to catch her tormentor, she partners with a trucker to hunt the killer down.
In addition to starring in the lead role, Carano is also producing the action-thriller, which will reportedly be in the vein of other gritty thrillers like Duel and Breakdown. Filming is set to take place in Tennessee, Utah, and Montana beginning in October. The movie is being developed in partnership with media company The Daily Wire, founded and led by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro.
Carano initially announced her plan to team with The Daily Wire just days after her firing from The Mandalorian. Given her recent history, it is unsurprising that the media company is willing to champion her as lead actress in its new project. In the future, partnering with figures like Shapiro may be the actress’ best path to securing roles after being dropped by a giant like Lucasfilm. Based on the overwhelmingly furious response to her offensive social media statements, it is clear that many people are not ready to welcome Carano back onto their screens yet.
