Gina Carano Explains Why She Wants to Return to Star Wars Role
Gina Carano addresses why her lawsuit againt Disney asks for her to be recast as Cara Dune in Star Wars.
Gina Carano has touched on her desire to return to Star Wars despite her behind-the-scenes friction with Lucasfilm and Disney.
In the first two seasons of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Gina Carano played the role of Cara Dune. The character was later written out of the series when Lucasfilm and Disney cut ties with Carano in 2021 due to controversial posts made on social media. Recently, Carano announced that she’s suing Lucasfilm and Disney over her removal from the franchise, arguing that she had been discriminated against with her firing. Along with at least $75,000 in damages, Carano’s lawsuit is also seeking to have the court force Lucasfilm and Disney to recast her as Cara Dune. After filing the lawsuit, Carano explained why she still wants to return as Cara Dune in the Star Wars franchise.
“As for me, I would love to pick up where I left off & continue my journey of creating & participating in story-telling, which is my utmost passion & everything I worked so hard for,” Carano said in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) addressing the lawsuit. “It has been difficult to move forward with the lies & labels stuck on me, backed & encouraged by the most powerful entertainment company in the world. I am grateful [Elon Musk] has come to my defense in such a powerful way & look forward to clearing my name.”
The lawsuit is funded by X and the social media platform’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk. It follows a previous announcement made by Musk that he’d financially assist anyone with a lawsuit if they’d been fired from a job due to exercising their right to free speech on X (aka Twitter). In Carano’s lawsuit, she pointed to a post made by male co-star Pedro Pascal in 2017 that compared Donald Trump to Hitler. Carano is arguing that she was discriminated against by getting fired for her own social media posts while Pascal hadn’t suffered any consequences. She also says that Disney’s attempt to “silence” her has been a violation of her right to free speech.
“Hollywood says they support female representation & equal rights. Why then were my male co-stars permitted to speak without harassment & re-education courses or termination, but I was not afforded the same right to exercise my freedom of speech,” Carano said in her X statement. “Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment. I have spoken to all my co-stars since I was fired & there is nothing but care and kind words between us. I respect their right to free speech & do not have to think the same on every issue to be their friends & work with them & I know they feel the same towards me.”
Time will tell if the lawsuit is a success, and if Cara Dune is brought back into the world of Star Wars. There is planned to be a fourth season of The Mandalorian, along with a tie-in film that will soon start shooting, but getting Cara Dune involved with those may require some rewrites. There’s always the possibility she could be inserted into another show or potential spinoff series. For now, Gina Carano’s run as Cara Dune can be revisited by streaming The Mandalorian on Disney+.
