A lot has happened since The Mandalorian wrapped up its second season in December 2020. One of the most controversial developments behind the scenes at Lucasfilm involved Gina Carano, who impressed as supremely badass Rebel special forces soldier Cara Dune in the first two runs.
Dune quickly became one of Din Djarin’s closest allies, battling at his side during the bombastic second season closer, and while she was shown to be smart and pragmatic, Carano proved to be anything but.
She began generating enormous controversy after spreading conspiracy theories during the COVID pandemic and suggesting voter fraud occurred during the 2020 Presidential election. The final straw for Disney and Lucasfilm came when she made a Twitter post comparing being a Republican today to being Jewish during the Holocaust. Now, she’s relegated to zero-budget flops for Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, with her Terror on the Prairie breaking the record for lowest-ever opening gross at a minuscule $804.
All this left The Mandalorian team with the thorny problem of what to do with Cara Dune, and now we have the answer. In the season three premiere, Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga is looking for a marshal to keep law and order on Nevarro. He asks Din if he’d be interested in the job, and he suggests Cara Dune instead. leading to an offhand response.
“After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by special forces.”
That’s it. If Carano hadn’t nuked her career, that storyline may have been picked up in the now-cancelled Rangers of the New Republic spinoff, but we suspect that this throwaway line is the last we’ll hear of her.
Onward to a Cara Dune-less future, though it appears that all the other major characters in The Mandalorian may be returning.