Gina Carano is now the most popular star in the world following her firing from Star Wars last week. That sounds like a pretty weird statement, but it’s true, according to IMDb’s Star Meter. The site rates celebrities’ current popularity based on their IMDb profile views every week, and typically those in the top spots are featured in the internet’s latest favorite movies or TV shows. In this case, though, the controversy surrounding Carano has launched her to #1.
The former Mandalorian actress is sitting as the biggest star across the globe today, according to IMDb’s stats. Those in second and third places have also been in the news of late – #2 is Big Little Lies’ Shailene Woodley, who just got engaged to football star Aaron Rodgers, while the great Christopher Plummer, who sadly died earlier this month, is #3. WandaVision stars Evan Peters and Elizabeth Olsen then round out the top five.
Carano’s firing has been one of the biggest talking points on social media over the past 7 days, so it shouldn’t be surprising that this has translated to the ex-MMA fighter topping IMDb’s charts. There’s been an ongoing saga of headlines featuring the actress’ name, from her Instagram post that caused so much offence to Lucasfilm’s decision to cut ties with her, to her subsequent blasting of the studio and partnership with right wing website The Daily Wire.
Ordinarily, then, an actor being at the top of IMDb’s Star Meter would mean their career’s on the up, but it’s unclear if Gina Carano has a career in mainstream Hollywood at all at this point, seeing as her agents dropped her shortly after Lucasfilm did. Nevertheless, she refuses to be silenced and has a loyal fanbase of her own, who are campaigning to get her rehired. In fact, a petition on the subject is currently sitting at over 50,000 signatures.