Gina Carano's Cara Dune Character Reportedly To Be Recast By Lucasfilm
Last week, it was made public that Disney and Lucasfilm had cut ties with Gina Carano, who had played Cara Dune in the Star Wars Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Her posts revealing her position on pronouns, voter fraud, and anti-mask beliefs had been upsetting people for months, culminating in the more recent post in which she seemed to compare being a Republican in the US to being a Jew in Nazi Germany. While she is no longer working with Disney and Lucasfilm, conservative news site The Daily Wire is giving Carano her own movie.
Reactions about Carano's dismissal have resulted in divided reactions. Some are glad to see her gone from Star Wars. Others have resorted to showing support for her by cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions. In any case, fans have been left with the question of whether or not Cara Dune may be recast. In the months leading up to Disney Investor Day, there was a reshuffling when it came to the shows that would be announced. Cara Dune could have potentially gotten her own spin-off, but Carano's online activities created issues for executives, resulting in no mention of her amongst the announcements. One of the shows, Rangers of the New Republic, could very well have been a Cara Dune show. With its current title, however, it could feature just about anybody. Still, Cara Dune the character, without being portrayed by Carano, could feasibly return in a series like this if Disney and Lucasfilm decide to recast the role. There are insiders saying that it could happen, though nothing looks official quite yet.
Per The Holywood Reporter:
"Insiders say Cara Dune wasn’t part of the Star Wars series next up, a Boba Fett spinoff, but expect that the character will be recast down the road, for both story and merchandising reasons. A source at Lucasfilm says that a recasting is not expected, however."
So it seems that there are different people talking about different expectations in regards to whether or not Cara Dune will be recast, and we do not know for sure how close these insiders and sources are to the situation. It seems possible that some people are further along in the grapevine than others, or that they have heard Lucasfilm and Disney going back and forth on whether or not to recast Cara Dune.
Thanks to circumstances within the storyline of The Mandalorian, Cara Dune does not necessarily need to reappear right away. In season 2, viewers saw her take a path that is not reliant on Din Djarin's path, becoming a marshal for the New Republic. Season 3's storyline seems like it could focus more on Din Djarin, Bo-Katan, and Mandalore itself, which would not require a side character like Cara Dune. And with the ambiguity of a title like Rangers of the New Republic, season 1 does not have to reintroduce Cara Dune right away. Theoretically, if the execs wanted, they could wait until season 2 to decide whether Cara Dune should just not appear at all or whether she should be recast, and then reintroduce her at that time.
Whatever happens, Disney and Lucasfilm have made their decision with the actress, and they have some time to think about whether or not they want to bring in another actress to play the same character. There will no doubt be different reactions that depend on people's opinions of Carano and her actions on social media. But the decision to recast is surely something that the people within these companies have at least thought about and may continue to discuss.
Source(s): The Direct, The Hollywood Reporter