When Cara Dune first appeared in The Mandalorian, fans were very receptive to the character, despite Gina Carano’s frequently obvious limitations as an actress. The former MMA fighter was admittedly ideally cast as a no-nonsense ex-soldier, and by the time season 1 had drawn to a close, the majority of folks would have been more than happy to see her get a spinoff.
Carano’s itchy Twitter finger soon put paid to that, though, with her frequently controversial and always confrontational social media posts leading to repeated calls that she be fired from the show. Up until yesterday, though, Disney and Lucasfilm had no real grounds to dismiss her, and letting someone go based solely on their political ideologies would have created a PR headache for the publicly apolitical studio.
However, the 38 year-old finally crossed a line that forced the Mouse House’s top brass into action, with the statement accompanying the news of her firing describing her latest social media activity as “abhorrent.” Half of the fanbase have certainly got their wish, but you can expect this one to cause plenty of rumblings online for at least a few days yet.
It remains to be seen how this will all play out, but the latest reports are claiming that Cara Dune was all set to get her own solo series as part of The Mandalorian‘s expansion, and it was even going to be announced at last year’s Investor Day before Disney got cold feet due to the potential backlash that would have greeted Carano essentially being promoted despite constantly rubbing plenty of people the wrong way. Now, she has to come to terms with the fact that she’s lost out on the biggest role of her career to date, one that she could have realistically played for years to come.
