In the whirlwind of backlash from politically charged social media posts, actress Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian (2019-) and Lucasfilm, leaving the means of her character Cara Dune's future in question.
A new report now suggests that the role of Dune will be recast as The Mandalorian marches towards its third season. The Hollywood Reporter said that decision to replace the actress will supplement both "story and merchandising reasons." The space western's second season concluded by leaving Dune and The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) on Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) ship after Grogu, or "Baby Yoda," was put into the care of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) be trained as a Jedi Knight.
Carano was fired due to the nature of her social media presence, and one post, in particular, severed her employment by Lucasfilm. The studio took action after Carano made a post to her Instagram story comparing the attitudes toward modern-day conservatives to the treatment and oppression that Jewish people experienced during the Holocaust. She claimed that the influence of fascism and Nazis encouraged the rest of the world to hate Jews, and drew her comparisons from there. "How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?" she asked in the story post, prompting #FireGinaCarano and #CancelDisneyPlus to take over Twitter.
The anti-Semitic post was not the first time that Carano was set under fire for highly controversial online behavior, as her use of "beep/bop/boop" in her Twitter bio mocks the transgender community in an act of transphobia. The MMA-fighter-turned-actress also discourages mask-wearing, despite the global health crisis, and raised questions against the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lucasfilm has not been explicit on whether or not they would have another actress take the place of Carano and fill the role of Dune for The Mandalorian and other Star Wars projects that may include the character, but if they choose to, fans have been campaigning for Lucy Lawless to take over. The Book of Boba Fett and the third season of The Mandalorian are release on Disney+ in December 2021.