Mandalorian actor Gina Carano fired for her social media posts

Image: Lucasfilm

Gina Carano was escorted to the edge of the Star Wars Universe and set adrift, never to return. She was controversial and made some Star Wars fans feel excluded and minimized. They need their character representatives shiny, not slimy, so she got the boot.

She did this to herself. Her social media comments were called “abhorrent and unacceptable” by the powers that be. Thousands cheered this decision to remove her, and whether you agree or not, it’s over.

In some ways, removing Cara Dune from the Mandalorian won’t make too much difference to the story. She wasn’t the main character and only featured in a few episodes. She usually spent her time standing around like window dressing between brief bouts of violence. Still, she was a part of the team, and she had potential.

So, what went wrong with Gina Carano's messaging and public image? Here’s how this rebel shock trooper shot herself in the foot with her own blaster.

Gina Carano Fought a Twitter War and Lost

It came into mainstream view when she claimed she was “forced” to support the trans community. She felt the need to respond.

It goes back to that old rule your mom might have told you about staying silent. While it’s important to stand up for your beliefs, you can’t do it at the expense of making others feel bad unless you’re willing to take the fallout.

All celebrities should pound it into their brains that opening your mouth can lead to sadness:

If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all.

No one forces us to post on social media. Even those in the spotlight can make choices. The controversy over gender pronouns wouldn’t have landed on her head if she stayed silent. But Carano decided to get saucy and throw a little jab in her Twitter bio, and months later, it still makes the news.

Instead of remaining above the trans-friendly pronouns issue, she added “beep/bop/boop.” This wasn’t taken well. There were calls from fans to remove her from the show.

One commenter said that “Cis people do not get to determine what is and isn’t harmful to trans people. Many trans people have said any sort of pronoun mocking/jokes from cis people, no matter the intent, causes harm.”

Over the next few months, she was vocal about questioning public health orders regarding mask-wearing. There were tweets supporting conspiracy theories about vote counting and the pandemic. She announced she was signing up for Parler because conservatives could speak freely there.

But the final straw for Lucasfilm was her comparison of conservative Americans to how the Jewish people fared in Germany.

“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views,” she wrote.

Gina Carano thought her job as an actor on The Mandalorian was to change the world by fighting to make it match her personal views. I can guarantee that Lucasfilm didn’t hire her to do this.

There were inklings that the Cara Dune character was going to star in her own spinoff show. All of this grandstanding and social media sideshow ended that possibility — at least for Carano.

There is a chance that the role will now get recast. Maybe we will see someone new playing the bounty Hunter. Milla Jovovich? Lucy Lawless?

Meanwhile, Mando is Supportive and Inclusive — Even of Tusken Raiders

The actor recently playing Cara Dune may not have been inclusive, supportive, or cooperative. But we still have Din Djarin!

One of the biggest surprises of The Mandalorian Season 2 is the fact that he speaks fluent Tusken. This came in handy when the bounty hunter needed an alliance with the Tuskens to defeat the Krayt Dragon.

Image: Twitter

Din Djarin is a member of an isolationist warrior cult. You would think that he wouldn’t be very trusting of anyone outside his small circle. Despite that, he’s accepting and supportive of other cultures and belief systems.

He took the time to learn Tusken fluently. He communicated and reasoned with them in a universe where everyone sees them as nothing more than savage beasts.

Since we met Mando, he shows us nothing but community spirit, even though his day job is hunting down people for money:

• He takes in orphans, even though they are alien to him.
• Works with fringe groups to defeat common problems.
• Teams up with space wizards without prejudice.
• Transports Frog Ladies to safety.
• Lets Grogu go to his new space-wizard life with grace.

Pedro Pascal, the actor portraying Din Djarin, or Mando, has been very open about his feelings on inclusiveness and gets behind BLM and trans rights. His sister Lux came out publicly as a transgender woman on February 10, 2021, with his full support.

This is the kind of team player that the world needs.

Bottom Line

I liked Gina Carano as Cara Dune. She will be missed in that role.

Since she got fired, we might not see that character again. But you never know. Maybe Michelle Rodriguez from The Fast and Furious has an opening in her schedule?

If you didn’t already know, your words count. Especially if you’re a public figure in one of the most popular franchises on earth like Star Wars, you can’t go around making people feel bad and expect to come out smelling like roses.