Back in 2021, Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian after sharing comments on social media that Lucasfilm deemed "abhorrent." The former MMA fighter had been a source of controversy for quite some time, but her posts that seemed to infer that being a Republican today is like being Jewish during the Holocaust were evidently the final straw.
Carano's character, Cara Dune, was going to play a significant role in the third season of The Mandalorian, but that's obviously not going to happen now. Will her absence be addressed, or are we just meant to assume that the former Shock Trooper is off doing her thing in another part of the galaxy?
“Cara was a big part and continues as a character to be part of the world," EP and director Rick Famuyiwa tells Deadline. "It had to be addressed in the creative and Jon (Favreau) took the time to think about that. 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.”
“It’s a big galaxy and we have many characters in it," added Dave Filoni. "Many characters are fighting for their screen time, 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.”
It sounds like Dune might get a mention, but Carano is highly unlikely to reprise the role, and we don't see the character being so vital to Din Djarin and Grogu's ongoing story that she'd need to be recast.