During its Investors Day Conference at the end of last year, Disney talked about approximately 30,000 new Star Wars TV shows in development for streaming service Disney+. We have the next season of The Mandalorian, of course, but also a lot of new stuff, including a show about Obi-Wan Kenobi, one about Ahsoka Tano, a series about Cassian Andor from Rogue One, one about Lando Calrissian, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Mandalorian follow-up series The Book of Boba Fett, anthology series Star Wars: Visions, something called A Droid Story, and prequel series The Acolyte, in addition to a couple of new movies. Maybe it’s not literally 30,000 things but it’s a lot.
They also announced Rangers of the New Republic, a series that was supposed to run alongside The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that these three shows would culminate in a “climatic story event.”
But now, Variety reports that Rangers of the New Republic “is not currently in active development,” which throws the whole scheme into doubt. True, they didn’t say that the series is “canceled” or “on indefinite hiatus,” but it’s troubling.
Rangers of the New Republic, a new Original Series set within the timeline of @TheMandalorian, is coming to @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/YKlWJpvhAW
— Disney (@Disney) December 10, 2020
Is Disney shelving Rangers of the New Republic because of Gina Carano?
We don’t know what Rangers of the New Republic was going to be about, although the title tells you a lot. The Mandalorian and Ahsoka are both set after the fall of the Empire, when a New Republic arises to try and bring some peace and order to the galaxy, but not in the dictatorial heavy-handed way the Empire did it. Din Djarin met a couple of Rangers of the New Republic in the second season of The Mandalorian, when they helped him off a planet infested with angry ice spiders (after they chased him onto the surface of the planet when he wouldn’t show him his license and registration). So the show was probably gonna revolve around those types of guys.
Also, we note that the last time we saw Cara Dune (Gina Carano), she was being recruited into a new position of authority within the New Republic. Carano was very publicly fired by Disney in February. It’s possible the new show was going to involve her character, and that Disney is shelving it while they ponder what to do about Carano’s absence.
Even without Rangers of the New Republic, there’s plenty of Star Wars content on the way to keep fans happy. Next on the agenda is The Book of Boba Fett, which is due out this December.
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h/t CBR