Star Wars History Tells Us ‘The Mandalorian’ Won’t Recast Gina Carano

There comes a time in every actor’s life when they have to ask themselves, “What’s more important: my incredibly lucrative gig working a few weeks a year on the biggest franchise in history, or being a vocal transphobe/anti-semite/anti-masker/insurrection supporter online?” Gina Carano asked herself that question (repeatedly over the last year, TBH) and consistently chose the latter. And after yet another… eventful… day on social media, Lucasfilm and Disney have announced that there are no plans to work with Gina Carano in the future. Carano said bye-bye to The Mandalorian—and she said bye-bye to Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, a show that was most likely intended to star Carano as Cara Dune, Star Wars’ most prominent ranger.

Now the question is, what does The Mandalorian do moving forward? Many are, of course, calling for The Mandalorian to recast Cara Dune. Even actors, like Superstore’s hilariously intimidating Lauren Ash, are stepping up. The desire to recast Cara Dune is totally understandable, as Dune—the character, independent of Carano—actually filled a void in the Star Wars canon. If you were gonna flip through a Star Wars High yearbook, Princess Leia, Rey, Jyn Erso, and Queen Amidala would be on the volleyball team or run track. Cara Dune, however, would be a wrestler and on the football team. She’s a soldier, not royalty or a Jedi or a spy. It’s rare to see a female character occupy the space usually reserved for a John Cena-type. Cara Dune is important!

But here’s the thing: unless Lucasfilm is ready to break with its own internal logic, Cara Dune will not be recast. The character is done for. That’s because Lucasfilm has a not-entirely-unspoken rule about recasting: they don’t do it, unless there’s a significant time jump. They do this because they want to maintain a level of continuity within eras, eras roughly defined by the three trilogies. That’s why CG versions of Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin were used in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which takes place moments before 1977’s Star Wars.

That’s also why when [SPOILER ALERT] The Mandalorian Season 2 finale had a pop-in from Luke Skywalker, they didn’t trot out Sebastian Stan (or whoever else fans think looks like young Mark Hamill). It’s like Lucasfilm knows that Star Wars fans are very into the idea of a chronology and watching things in order, and they want to ensure that your movie marathons make sense. How considerate!

When Star Wars does recast, though, it’s because there’s been a significant time jump. Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader—there’s at least a decade of in-universe space between those stories and stories starring the original actors.

The only major place where this tradition falls apart is in regards to Rebel leader Mon Mothma. She was played by Caroline Blakiston in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, and was recast with Genevieve O’Reilly in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. O’Reilly continued to play Mon Mothma in 2016’s Rogue One and will reprise the role in Disney+’s upcoming Rogue One prequel series, Andor. But that recasting feels loophole-ish, because Mon Mothma had under a minute of screentime in ROTJ. In fact, you probably have to be more than a casual Star Wars fan to even know what this paragraph is talking about. Cara Dune is probably too big of a character for Lucasfilm to use the Mon Mothma clause.

With all that being said, it stands to reason that Lucasfilm won’t recast Cara Dune—but that doesn’t mean the void can’t be filled. This is where we can all be thankful for Gina Carano being a less than memorable actor! Even though she appeared in the most episodes of The Mandalorian after Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, she never really lived up to the potential. In fact, The Mandalorian kept introducing characters—Fennec Shand, Bo-Katan Kryze, Koska Reeves, Peli Motto, Horatio Sanz’s squid man, even Dr. Mandible!—with more charisma than what Carano was able to bring to Cara Dune.

This ranger of the New Republic can easily disappear between seasons, and the show will have no problem replacing her with any number of characters, including physically intimidating women. And Cara Dune’s plot lines, if there were any in store, can be given to literally any one of the presumably hundreds of ex-Rebellion soldiers. In fact, I’d rather see Lauren Ash cast as someone completely new! She deserves a Star Wars character built just for her!

The point is, Lucasfilm most likely won’t recast Cara Dune because they traditionally don’t recast roles unless a story calls for a much younger or older version of a character. But that’s fine, because Cara Dune was always restricted by the performer playing her. It’s time for The Mandalorian to do what it does best: introduce another character for us to all fall in love with.

Stream The Mandalorian on Disney+