Gina Carano once had a bright future in the Star Wars franchise as Marshall Cara Dune. As well as being a key supporting character in The Mandalorian, she was being lined up for a spin-off series titled Rangers of the New Republic (which has since been scrapped).
The actress was fired by Lucasfilm in February 2021 after some of her social media posts regarding the COVID mask mandates and the pandemic went viral, with some even labelling the former MMA as anti-trans based on other posts.
Carano has never shied away from taking aim at Lucasfilm in the years since (not to mention a couple of her co-stars) but had nothing but good things to say about the time she spent with the late Carl Weathers. The Greef Karga actor sadly died last week.
"Carl called me directly after I was fired," The Mandalorian alum said in a lengthy X post. "I wasn’t in an emotional state where I could pick up the phone because of how upset I was, but we did end up speaking later on."
"He was gentle and encouraging and didn’t want me to give up, he was letting me know that he wasn’t throwing me away, he was trying to keep my hope alive in what seemed like quite hopeless scenario, he showed me he cared. That is who he was."
Reflecting on the fact Weathers directed her first season 2 episode, Carano added, "I believe had we gotten to Rangers of the New Republic, Carl would’ve directed me in much more. Jon [Favreau] was right, we were a great fit."
She concluded by saying, "I'm going to miss my friend and mentor and that mischievous little sparkle in his eye. He was one of the greats and quite a ground breaker. I am flooded by all the precious memories we had together."
No matter how you feel about Carano, this is a touching tribute from someone who worked alongside Weathers and clearly cared for him. The actress hasn't really done much since her time in Star Wars ended, largely sticking to low-budget fare for DailyWire+.
Read her full statement below.