The third season of “The Mandalorian” arrives on Wednesday and with it comes the return of familiar faces like Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and more.
One familiar face you won’t be seeing is Gina Carano’s bounty hunter Cara Dune. In the series, she was last seen in the season two finale as a marshal of the New Republic who helped Din rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito).
Carano was famously dismissed from the series in 2021 following controversial statements made on social media. Lucasfilm released a statement around that time saying: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.” Soon after she was fired from her agency UTA, while Hasbro halted making Cara Dune action figures.
Thus she wasn’t included at all in the making of the show’s third season. Speaking with Deadline this week, executive producer Rick Famuyiwa says dealing with the character’s departure was a topic in the writers room:
“Cara was a big part and continues as a character to be part of the world. It had to be addressed in the creative and Jon (Favreau) took the time to think about that. It was something that was discussed as we knew it was going to have an impact on the show, but at the same time, what has been at the heart of the show are the two characters — Din Djarin and Grogu– so ultimately it felt like a servicing of that, and around the Mandalorians.”
Executive producer Dave Filoni still loves the character, but with the show naturally turning towards the Mandalorian saga this season it sounds like there wasn’t much room anyway:
““t’s a big galaxy and we have many characters in it. Many characters are fighting for their screen time, we’ll just have to see as the season unfolds what the adventures are, but it’s a great character, someone who was vital to Din Djarin’s beginnings; we’ll see if he has evolved beyond that.
Now season 3 is mainly dealing with Mandalorians and the Mandalorian saga, the Mandalorian tale. (There’s) different characters he’s met since Bo-Katan, (who) take a lot more prominence which makes sense where his arc is going, the story of him and Grogu specifically… The Mandalorian in the title is the story about the Mandalorian and his people.”
Famuyiwa directs episodes 1, 7 and 8 of the series which kicks off on March 1st and runs through until mid-late April.
Source: Deadline
