Cara Dune (Gina Carano) “continues to be a part of the world” of The Mandalorian

Gina Carano played ex-Rebel shock trooper Cara Dune in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. Then, in 2021, Disney fired her for what it called “abhorrent and unacceptable” social media behavior. That included mocking the practice of pronoun-sharing, mocking the practice of wearing masks during the pandemic, peddling former President Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, and finally likening modern-day political divisions in the U.S. to the plight of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, which was apparently the final straw for Disney.

The third season of The Mandalorian premieres tomorrow on Disney+, and we shouldn’t expect Gina Carano to be a part of it. But Cara Dune was a decently important character in the first two seasons. Will her absence be addressed?

“Cara was a big part and continues as a character to be part of the world. It had to be addressed in the creative and [showrunner Jon Favreau] took the time to think about that,” executive producer  Rick Famuyiwa told Deadline. “It was something that was discussed as we knew it was going to have impact on the show, but at the same time, what has been at the heart of the show are the two characters — Din Djarin and Grogu — so ultimately it felt like a servicing of that, and around the Mandalorians.”

Will The Mandalorian season 3 address the absence of Cara Dune (Gina Carano)?

If you read that and think that Famuyiwa isn’t really answering the question of whether or not Cara Dune will be mentioned in The Mandalorian season 3, you’d be correct, and we get more of that kind of thing from producer Dave Filoni. “It’s a big galaxy and we have many characters in it — many characters are fighting for their screen time,” he waffled. “We’ll just have to see as the season unfolds what the adventures are, but it’s a great character, someone who was vital to Din Djarin’s beginnings; we’ll see if he has evolved beyond that.”

"Now Season 3 is mainly dealing with Mandalorians and the Mandalorian saga, the Mandalorian tale. [There’s] different characters he’s met since Bo-Katan (who) take a lot more prominence, which makes sense where his arc is going, the story of him and Grogu specifically."

Deadline asked Filoni directly if fans ever called upon him to bring back Cara Dune. “It’s a great character,” he said, doing anything but answering the question. “I get requests across the board for all types of characters. I’ve been with Star Wars, it’s coming on 20 years. It’s a great galaxy. The hardest thing is finding time and space for everyone out there. George [Lucas] use to talk about when he was making the prequels, he had so many great characters and they all wanted screen time. How do you do it when your job is to tell the story of Anakin Skywalker? I relate to that.”

“Will Cara Dune be mentioned?” “The Mandalorian is about a Mandalorian.”

Okay, that is some quality tap dancing. Honestly, reading this it doesn’t sound like they’re committing to much of anything, probably for fear of stirring one hornet’s next or another. My best guess is that we’ll get a mention or two of Cara Dune but that Carano will be nowhere in sight. They canceled her planned spinoff, after all.

“The Mandalorian in the title is the story about the Mandalorian and his people,” Filoni finished. Oh dear lord, man, if you have something to say, just say it.

As for Carano, she was last seen in Terror on the Prairie, a western produced by right-wing culture war profiteer The Daily Wire. The movie made $804 in its one day of theatrical availability and ticked off the audience of conservative nutters it was meant to coddle because it starred a woman and they didn’t like that.

The Mandalorian boss wants the show to go “on and on,” probably forever if he can help it

Moving on, Jon Favreau talked to Total Film about whether he had an ending in mind for The Mandalorian. Turns out no:

"No, I don’t – I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story. And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters, I think that how these characters fit into the larger scope and scale, but it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind. Quite the contrary, I love for these stories to go on and on. And so these characters potentially could be with us for a while, and I really love telling stories in their voice, and I love the way the adventures unfold and I’m looking forward to doing much more."

Knowing how Disney loves to milk its franchises, I’m not surprised that Favreau has no plans for “a finale” for The Mandalorian. Disney is using the show to jumpstart a new shared Star Wars TV universe that it surely wants to continue in perpetuity so as to maximize profits. Personally, I’d like it if The Mandalorian were heading towards an endpoint — maybe not immediately, but eventually — but Disney gonna Disney.

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