Although Gina Carano’s Cara Dune was an important character in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian, there are no plans for the character to appear in the Star Wars franchise again. That’s because in early 2021, Lucasfilm announced that Carano was no longer employed at the company in response to the controversy surrounding her social media activity. Two years later, Carano is now suing both Lucasfilm and Disney, the former’s parent company, over the firing from the Star Wars TV show, and X owner Elon Musk is involved in this legal affair.
Per THR, Carano has filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination and wrongful termination on Disney and Lucasfilm’s part. In a complaint filed in California federal court today, the actress alleged that she was let go from The Mandalorian for “voicing right-wing opinions on social media.” She’s also seeking a court order that would force Lucasfilm to recast her as Cara Dune, as well as at least $75,000 in punitive damages. Elon Musk is helping fund the lawsuit through X, with Joe Benarroch, the social media company’s head of business operations, writing in a statement:
As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination.
For those who weren’t following along with the controversy when it was originally unfolding, among the social media posts for which Gina Carano received flak included comparing being a conservative in the United States to being Jewish during the Nazi regime, seemingly criticizing people for wearing masks during the pandemic, and making comments that seemingly mocked people’s choice of pronouns, among other things. Carano shared shortly after her firing that Disney asked her to issue an apology, but she declined. After the firing, Carano announced she was partnering with The Daily Wire to make a Western movie, with Terror on The Prairie being released in June 2022.
Now, however, Carnao is looking to hold Disney and Lucasfilm legally accountable for them firing her from The Mandalorian. The complaint alleges that the companies defamed her for “refusing to conform with their viewpoints on issues relating to Black Lives Matter, preferred pronouns and disproven claims of election interference.” Carano is also arguing that a “blind eye” was turned to her male costars, who’ve allegedly made “offensive and denigrating posts directed towards Republicans.”
The lawsuit also mentioned that after the social media controversy started getting attention, Gina Carano was required to meet with a representative from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, with said representative allegedly demanding an apology. As it’s written:
Defendants went so far as to try and convince Carano’s publicist to force Carano to issue a statement admitting to mocking or insulting an entire group of people, which Carano had never done
When Gina Carano refused to issue that apology, the lawsuit Staes she was instructed to meet with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and 45 employees who identify as LGBTQ+. When Carano turned down that meeting too, that’s when the firing happened. It had also previously been reported that Carano had been expected to lead The Mandalorian spinoff Rangers of the New Republic, but that project looked to have been scrapped several months after she was let go.
We’ll keep you apprised about how Gina Carano’s Elon Musk-aided lawsuit against Disney is going as more updates come in. As far as The Mandalorian goes, its three seasons can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, and while it remains unclear if Season 4 will still happen, a tie-in movie called The Mandalorian & Grogu has been announced.
