For a franchise that once printed money, Star Wars has spent the last few years stuck in a loop of bad headlines and awkward silence. One of the loudest stories in that mess has been Gina Carano, the former MMA fighter turned actress who played Cara Dune in The Mandalorian. Her exit in 2021 was messy, public, and driven by social media posts that crossed lines Disney does not tolerate, including one that compared modern political fights to the Holocaust.
Before all that, Carano was not some side character waiting in the wings. She was positioned as a key piece of Disney’s streaming plans. Reports at the time pointed to her leading Rangers of the New Republic, a spinoff that was supposed to help build out the post-Return of the Jedi timeline. Then she was gone, the show disappeared, and Cara Dune was quietly erased from the story as if she never existed.
Now, five years later, Carano is talking again. During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, she revealed that she has reconnected with Lucasfilm leadership. That includes Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the two men most responsible for keeping Star Wars on life support in the streaming era. According to Carano, the conversation went better than many would expect.
“I’ve already had a conversation with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. Really lovely. After we settled the lawsuit, we got on a Zoom call. It was really nice. Dave Filoni taking over, CEO of Star Wars. And it’s like, we didn’t even miss a beat, and Jon Favreau was really funny. Got on the Zoom and he’s like, ‘So, where did we leave off?’ And we hadn’t spoken for a while, and he was like, ‘Where did we leave off?'”
That is not nothing. For a company that usually shuts doors and throws away the key, even a friendly Zoom call suggests Disney is at least willing to keep the door cracked. Carano did not confirm any return as Cara Dune, and there is no official project tied to her name. Still, this is the first real sign that the ice might be thawing.
Meanwhile, Lucasfilm is busy trying to convince audiences that everything is fine. A new movie titled The Mandalorian & Grogu is on the way, along with more Disney+ content like Star Wars: Ahsoka Season 2. These projects need familiar faces and working storylines, not more half-finished ideas that vanish without explanation.
That brings us back to Carano. If the conversations are friendly and the lawsuits are settled, the only real question is whether Disney has the nerve to follow through. Bringing back Cara Dune would not just fix a dangling plot thread. It would signal that Lucasfilm is ready to clean up its own mess instead of pretending it never happened. And it would most certainly help the public opinion of Disney, even though they will have to ignore the toxic trans trolls, which is unlikely.
Gina Carano revealed that she recently spoke with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau on a Zoom call about a possible return to Star Wars.
Naturally, the mere idea that Dave or Jon would even speak to Gina again has sent the “kind and tolerant” side of the Star Wars fandom into full… pic.twitter.com/X9xCAxZRAr
— MasteroftheTDS (@MasteroftheTDS) April 24, 2026
Because if she isn’t going to appear in The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, then what exacty is the point? As far as I’m concerned, Lucasfilm needs Carano more than she needs them.
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English (US) · 