One of the biggest Star Wars casting shockers occurred on February 11, 2021, when it was announced that The Mandalorian star Gina Carano was no longer employed by Lucasfilm ahead of future seasons and spinoffs. The decision to leave Mando's ass-kicking compadre Cara Dune by the wayside came in response to a particularly divisive social media post that caused an online backlash. Naturally, that reaction inspired its own counter-backlash, with some fans then calling for Mando portrayer Pedro Pascal to get fired over controversial posts from his past. But even though the former co-stars don't see eye to eye on everything, the actress has only kind things to say about Pascal.
For her first big sit-down interview following her Mandalorian ousting, Gina Carano appeared on The Ben Shapiro Show to tell her side of the story in a calm and level-headed manner. While she definitely took some indirect shots at studio execs during the lengthy chat with Shaprio, Carano pointedly played things cooly throughout, as not to appear rant-y or rave-y. When Pedro Pascal's name came up, Carano offered up an earnest and kind appraisal of their relationship. In her words:
I adore Pedro. I adore him. I know he's said and done some hurtful things. I don't think that posting anybody's number on social media is okay, but I know that he thinks a lot of the stuff that I post [is not okay]. But there's so much love there still, you know? We had an agreement after we realized we were a little bit politically different. We had an agreement that, first and foremost, you're a human being, and you're my friend first.
The incident that Gina Carano is referring to was Pedro Pascal posting Texas Senator Ted Cruz's publicly listed office phone number on Twitter in January. That post is on a completely different level from the sometimes trollish posts that Carano has taken heat for (and also gained a bigger following for), but everything is relative. In any case, Carano's point in the matter is pointing out that, social media posts aside, she and Pascal were able to see beyond their disagreements in order to build a friendship.
In fact, Gina Carano went on to reflect on "us vs. them" attitudes and said she appreciated Pedro Pascal's commitment to his passions, even if those passions don't necessarily correspond with hers.
Because we're both passionate, and that's what's been really crazy is, like, you see these people over here being so passionate, and you see people over here being so passionate, and I love that we're just both passionate. We think a little bit differently, I think, through our different experiences. So I know that we both have misstepped on our tweets. We're not perfect. We're human beings. But he's not a bad human being. He's a sweet person.
Gina Carano definitely doesn't feel the same way about everyone she worked with for The Mandalorian, especially since she reportedly only found out she was fired after seeing it online. Her next project will be alongside Ben Shapiro, as she's teaming up with The Daily Wire for a film that she will develop and produce. It's not likely that Pedro Pascal will join her in this project, but the two friends may one day share the screen again in some way.
Speaking of, though, Pascal was recently tapped to play the starring role of Joel in HBO's upcoming The Last of Us adaptation, with that project reportedly taking precedent over all other gigs. It's likely that Pascal has a way to make his schedule work for both Mandalorian and Last of Us, but it'll be interesting to see how long his Star Wars future is now that the franchise is expanding on Disney+.
