Gina Carano has opened up about the intense secrecy measures employed on The Mandalorian. The smash hit Star Wars show has managed to do the unthinkable multiple times by this point and successfully keep fans in the dark about a big twist before all is revealed on screen. For instance, we never knew Baby Yoda was a major component of the series prior to its premiere and the season 2 finale blew us all away with the return of Luke Skywalker.
In a recent interview, the Cara Dune star touched on some of the tactics taken by the production team in order to keep the number of spoilers slipping out to a minimum, saying:
“It’s the most secretive thing that I’ve ever been a part of…being a part of The Mandalorian. To the point where like you have to wear cloaks in between studios. Like, big black cloaks so that, like, you know somebody from the top of the roof doesn’t take pictures.” The actor went on to explain that the cast even has a special place they have to go to get the scripts for each episode, noting, “But you only get the scripts that you’re in. And they’ve got a name printed out all over it so, if anything ever gets out…”
It seems the cast themselves are left in the dark, too, as Carano went on to admit that she didn’t know Hamill was going to be involved in season 2 until she happened to see the icon in the makeup trailer.
“So I started finding out about it in the makeup trailer, basically because you’re like, ‘Oh wait, who’s that?’ And because they didn’t say it in the script,” Carano recalled. “And then you know…everyone that has worked on The Mandalorian is insane, like insane Star Wars fans. And they have the shirts and they’re like, ‘Wait a second.’ And so, everybody starts doing a little whispering.”
You might think that working with such high levels of subterfuge all the time might get to you, but Carano says that she’s happy to embrace it as she knows how important it is to preserve the experience of being surprised for the fans when they first tune in.
“From the moment I walked out on stage for [Star Wars Celebration], and getting that kind of energy from the Star Wars fans, then I realized, ‘People love this,'” she explained. “So why wouldn’t they want to be surprised?”
It also helps that the former MMA star-turned-actress thinks she’s pretty good at keeping secrets.
“And that is why keeping secrets is good. I can keep a lot of secrets and I have all the secrets. All of them. All of them. OK, I don’t have all of them — but I have all of them,” she continued.”…So, keeping secrets for me is like, ‘Hey, I want people to be surprised. I’m a personal big fan of surprises, so I wouldn’t want to ruin that.”
Though the big Luke cameo is out of the bag, no doubt Carano’s still got a lot more secrets up her sleeves. Despite some hubbub about her maybe being removed from the franchise, all the signs are pointing to Cara Dune returning in The Mandalorian season 3 and likely dropping by in some of those upcoming spinoffs – like Rangers of the New Republic – as well.
The Book of Boba Fett is shooting now behind closed doors, ahead of its arrival on Disney Plus this December, with the next run of the parent series kicking off after that.
