Lucasfilm’s Gina Carano Replacement Plan
Gina Carano's termination is not stopping Lucasfilm.
This article is more than 2 years old
Lucasfilm has a plan when it comes to dealing with the removal and replacement of Gina Carano who played the character of Cara Dune on the Disney+ hit series The Mandalorian.
According to insider Daniel Richtman on his Patreon page, Lucasfilm is planning to replace Gina Carano’s character Cara Dune in the upcoming series Rangers of the New Republic with another strong female lead. Richtman is light on further details but this does seem to confirm that Cara Dune was set to be the lead of Rangers of the New Republic.
Does this rumor mean Lucasfilm has already found a replacement for Gina Carano? Does it mean they are currently in search of a strong female lead? We have so many questions here. How will this affect The Mandalorian and how will it also affect Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, a show that expected to have Gina Carano lead the way.
As far as The Mandalorian, many think it fairly simple to write out the Cara Dune character. While she was a hit when she appeared, her presence wasn’t necessary, and it isn’t like she was a main cog in The Mandalorian wheel. She was used sparingly at best. As Season 2 came to a conclusion – a season in which Carano didn’t even appear until the fourth episode – Dune didn’t have any major storylines left hanging so omitting her altogether or even bringing in another actor to play Dune shouldn’t be a difficult a task. But then there’s Rangers of the New Republic.
As Season 2 unfolded, we saw Captain Carson Teva attempt to recruit Dune to the New Republic in order to help fight the remnants of the Empire. As the show pointed out, Dune carries much rage against the Empire after they destroyed her home planet of Alderaan. Dune never gave Teva a definite answer, but this was supposedly the setup for Rangers of the New Republic. In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter sources, “Lucasfilm planned to unveil Carano as the star of her own show during a December investor’s day presentation but scrapped those plans following her November tweets.” This same outlet has also reported that Lucasfilm has no immediate plans to recast the Cara Dune role.
If the studio does decide to recast Gina Carano’s Cara dune, there is definitely an actress that seems to be gaining steam with fans. Right now, Lucy Lawless seems to be the frontrunner. The 52-year-old actress has plenty of experience kicking ass from Xena: Warrior Princess to Battlestar Galactica to most recently Ash vs. Evil Dead. One could easily see Lawless taking over the Cara Dune role.
She definitely has the backing. Lawless isn’t the only name floating around out there as possible replacements for Gina Carano. Michelle Rodriguez has been mentioned as has Malin Ackerman, Adrianne Palicki, Carla Gugino, Gwendoline Christie, Stephanie Beatriz, and yes, even Megan Fox. The best of all is the petition to have Don Cheadle replace Gina Carano as Cara Dune. Cheadle, as you may know, famously replaced Terrance Howard as James Rhodes/War Machine after Howard tried to play hardball with Marvel producers asking for more money.
Finally, could we actually, at some point, see Gina Carano come back as Cara Dune? While it is lost assuredly impossible, some fans have begun to speak up, with a contingent of them already canceling their Disney+ subscriptions. Disney probably is not hurting after a few cancellations. Disney+ seems to be doing just fine. There is also the Lucasfilm announcement that revealed Carano had ended her tenure with the company. The text said, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.” Some fans are hanging onto that by pointing out the “not currently” and “no plans” wording as Lucasfilm saying that the possibility for them to reconcile still exists. Not likely in the least, especially after Carano’s trashing of the company, but stranger things have happened when it comes to Tinsel Town.
