Looks like Lucasfilm/Disney have surprisingly, settled their legal standoff with Gina Carano, ending the post-Mandalorian fallout with a mutual agreement. No bombshells, no courtroom drama, and just a closed-door resolution.
A Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement provided to Variety:
“The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Gina Carano to resolve the issues in her pending lawsuit against the companies. Ms. Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect. With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.”
What I find most intriguing about this statement is that Disney is now speaking warmly about Carano? Hinting at future collaboration? For an actress once publicly ousted and humiliated by them, the sudden pivot feels like Disney cracking open a door that many might assume relates to a Star Wars return.
The optics of the settlement suggests a studio that did not want this case to go to court. With the culture-war spotlight burning bright, Disney might have calculated that a courtroom showdown could do more reputational damage than quietly making peace. It’ll be interesting to find out, if it ever leaks, just how much they decided to pay Carano as part of this settlement. I bet it’s much higher than you think.
In 2021, Carano was famously fired from the Star Wars spinoff “The Mandalorian” for what Disney deemed offensive social media posts. Soon after her firing Carano had announced that she would be suing Disney and LucasFilm for the unlawful termination with Elon Musk backing her legal fees.
The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time. My words were consistently twisted to demonize & dehumanize me as an alt right wing extremist. It was a bullying smear campaign aimed at silencing, destroying & making an example out of me.
Carano lost her role on the mega-popular series for what Disney called “offensive” social media posts. Meanwhile, her defenders have pointed towards the “hypocrisy” of co-star Pedro Pascal’s own social media posts where he compared Trump voters to Nazis. Carano, indirectly, tackled Pascal’s comments …
Hollywood says they support female representation & equal rights. Why then were my male co-stars permitted to speak without harassment & re-education courses or termination, but I was not afforded the same right to exercise my freedom of speech.
So, what exactly did Carano say exactly to get fired from “The Mandalorian”? Disney claims Carano “trivialized” the holocaust by sharing a post implying that today’s conservatives are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children,” the post said. “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?
Carano also shared tweets that questioned the pandemic lockdowns and mask mandates. She also pleaded for more voter security, arguing the public would have a greater trust in the elections if safeguards like Voter ID were employed.
The actress poked fun at people using pronouns in their Twitter bios, saying her pronouns read, “Beep/bop/boop.” A publicist insisted she put out an apology, but she refused. “Can I just do my own research?” she told them.
Meanwhile, Lucasfilm requested she go on a Zoom call with forty-odd colleagues who called her out on social media. She refused.
I think it’s a bit abusive that you want me to talk to forty people... forty people...a lot of them had been [slandering me]. I don’t feel like I really deserve this.
Carano’s career was rising in Hollywood as this action star in one of the most popular shows in all of streaming — her previous credits include Soderbergh’s “Haywire,” “Fast & Furious 6,” “Deadpool,” and then, post-firing, the roles stopped coming.
Since 2021, Carano’s career has veered hard into the ideological fringes. Shunned by the mainstream, she found refuge at The Daily Wire, producing and starring in the barely-seen 2022 Western “Terror on the Prairie.” Outside of a guest spot on “Running Wild with Bear Grylls,” her screen presence has been minimal.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.