Former MMA champion turned actress Gina Carano has opened up in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter about her firing from Disney+’s The Mandalorian. Carano played the lead role of Cara Dune in the show, a character specifically written with her in mind by series creator John Favreau. A year after the show’s premiere, Carano was fired from the show following social media posts that Disney deemed “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano claimed that Hollywood press and major news outlets portrayed her as an extreme right-wing figure, which she says is not true. She also spoke about the defamation and harassment she faced from Lucasfilm for refusing to conform to their views on topics related to Black Lives Matter, preferred pronouns and false claims of electoral fraud.
Since her firing, Carano has claimed that trying to find work has been like “sitting in the desert” and has filed a lawsuit against Disney and its subsidiary Lucasfilm. The lawsuit alleges that the production companies wrongfully terminated her from The Mandalorian and other Star Wars titles for sharing a range of far-right opinions. Elon Musk has said he would help to fund Carano’s suit.
The suit details an alleged incident in which Carano was required by Disney to meet with a GLAAD spokesperson, following online posts that were deemed anti-trans. After refusing to attend both that meeting and another involving LGBTQIA+ Disney employees, Carano was terminated.
Carano is now claiming wrongful discharge and sexual discrimination, seeking $75,000 in damages and a court order that would require her to be recast on The Mandalorian. Alongside her firing from the show, an upcoming project centered on Cara Dune – titled Rangers of the New Republic – was also removed from Lucasfilm’s release schedule. Disney also allegedly omitted her likeness in promotional materials for an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls in which she guest starred
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