Gina Carano says an accidental email from Disney tipped her off about her firing from The Mandalorian. Carano appeared in seasons 1 and 2 of the Disney+ hit series as Cara Dune, the tough Rebel Shock trooper-turned-New Republic marshal and ally of Pedro Pascal’s titular bounty hunter Din Djarin. The former MMA fighter was expected to return for season 3, as well as possibly taking part in another upcoming Star Wars spinoff series. However, after multiple controversies in the past several months, Carano was fired from The Mandalorian and any other upcoming Star Wars projects.
While Cara Dune received generally positive reactions from fans, the performance was overshadowed in recent months by Carano’s controversial social media posts. that many deemed as transphobic and anti-Semitic. She received widespread backlash for making anti-mask jokes and sharing voter fraud conspiracies following the 2020 presidential election. She also frequently made remarks on social media about Republicans being more attacked for their political beliefs, most recently under fire for an Instagram post in which she appeared to compare being a Republican to being a Jewish person in Nazi German. The post, along with a tweet about Jeffrey Epstein, led to outrage on social media, with the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trending again. It also seemed to be the final straw with Lucasfilm, as they officially cut ties with Carano, calling her social media posts, “abhorrent and unacceptable.” Carano has since opened up about her firing while announcing that she’s teaming up with Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire to produce and star in a new movie.
Speaking with controversial political commentator Ben Shapiro for a special episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, Carano claimed she was accidentally sent an email from Disney that tipped her off about her termination from The Mandalorian. While Carano learned she was officially fired from the show on social media along with everyone else, she said an email accidentally sent to her from Disney officials told her that it was coming.
“They accidentally sent me an email, which was very enlightening, so I knew. I knew they were paying attention. I know there were some people who went to bat for me, but I know that they didn’t win out at the end.”
Carano continued, “They’ve been all over me and they’ve been watching me like a hawk, and I’m watching people on the same production and they can say everything they want, and that’s where I had a problem. I had a problem because I wasn’t going along with the narrative.” Carano is likely referring to Pascal, who she also addressed in the interview, telling Shapiro that though their opinions differ greatly, she holds no hard feelings against the star and they were able to maintain a friendship on set. Carano also explained to Shapiro how she felt targeted by Disney, claiming the company “bullied” her and others by silencing them. She also recently revealed that following her refusal to use the apology Lucasfilm wrote after she mocked the use of social media pronouns on Twitter, she was pulled from season 2 press and promotion.
While Carano officially learned of her firing from social media, it sounds like she knew it was coming for a while. She had been rocking the boat for a while, and it might be the best for everyone that Disney and Carano are no longer affiliated. It’s currently unclear how The Mandalorian will address Cara Dune’s disappearance going forward. While some called for the character to be recast, it sounds like Lucasfilm will move on from the Cara Dune storyline altogether.
