Tag: Gina Carano

Posted on in Television News

Lucasfilm Pumping The Breaks On Their ‘Rangers of The New Republic’ Series?

Back in December, Lucasfilm’s Kathy Kennedy announced that a new Star Wars series, titled Rangers of The New Republic, would be part of a lineup of new shows for Disney+ adding that it would take place within the timeline of The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni set to executive produce. We had heard that Favreau was going to be the showrunner on the project but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be in front of cameras anytime soon.

A small tidbit briefly mentioned in a new Variety write-up highlighting Dave Filoni’s new title as Executive Creative Director (as listed on the Lucasfilm website), suggests that the series currently isn’t in “active development.” This could mean the duo aren’t actively writing or planning-out the newly announced show which isn’t shocking with three other big Star Wars projects on their plate currently.

It’s worth mentioning they didn’t say the project isn’t happening or has been cancelled.

There had been some theories that after Gina Carano was fired by the studio back in February that the show might be in peril as it was said to focus on Carano’s Cara Dune (unconfirmed by Lucasfilm), the second season of The Mandalorian did seemingly attempt to prime audiences for this new series. However, Lucasfilm doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type of company after replacing a handful of directors instead of cancelling projects entirely and would end an entire show over a single actor.

Then again, they temporarily killed films that would center on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett only to give them Disney+ shows instead.

This doesn’t mean Rangers of The New Republic can’t be retooled later or isn’t going to be made entirely, but likely since The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Season 3 of the The Mandalorian are going to be priorities for Favreau and Filoni, there is a good chance that they’re just a little busy at the moment with three other shows to make time for this fourth project. Personally, I believe they could push forward with a recast/new character alongside adding Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Captain Carson Teva and Bill Burr’s Migs Mayfeld to the lineup. Until Lucasfilm says they’re not making it we should assume it’s happening at a later date.

The Book of Boba Fett is the next big Star Wars series to debut on Disney+ in December with Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi currently shooting.

Posted on in Television News

Lucasfilm Has Officially Terminated Gina Carano’s Employment Amid Antisemitic Post On Social Media

Yesterday, it was finally announced by Lucasfilm (owned by Disney) that they have severed the employment of The Mandalorian actress and former UFC fighter Gina Carano.

This comes after a massive online campaign with the hashtag #FireGinaCarano being sparked after an antisemitic post was revealed and circulated on Twitter. I guess comparing her social media backlash to the six million Jews who were persecuted and murdered in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis was apparently a step too far for Disney and Lucasfilm.

It’s worth noting that Jon Favreau, essentially her boss on the series, is Jewish.

Here is what a Lucasfilm spokesperson had to say via The Hollywood Reporter.

“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

She’s also been dropped by her agency.

Carano has also been dropped as a client by UTA, an agency spokesperson confirms.

This late move is coming after the actress rightfully saw public backlash for posting similar antisemitic imagery, sharing/liking anti-vaxxer and anti-mask postings along with initially teasing the trans community for asking people to use pronouns in their bios as a form of support. Her co-star Pedro Pascal had only this week announced support for his sister Lux Pascal, who has come out as trans.

The public “backlash” led the actress to announce she would be joining the Alt-Right social media platform Parler.

It’s unknown at this time if Lucasfilm will recast the role of Cara Dune or stop using the character altogether because of Carano’s association. I had mused during the start of Season 2 airing on Disney+ that Lucasfilm might have opted to kill-off her character to end the relationship.

However, The Hollywood Reporter mentions they had scrapped plans to announce a spinoff series for her character Cara Dune during the December presentation after her November tweets sparked outrage and might have still considered adding her to Dave Filoni’s series Rangers of The New Republic before the final straw.

SOURCE: LUCASFILM VIA THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER