Posted in: Disney+, Opinion, Star Wars, TV, TV | Tagged: dave filoni, disney, lucasfilm, Rangers of the New Republic, star wars

Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic Gina Carano Collateral Damage?

So did Disney+ and Lucasfilm pull a little Jedi mind trick on "Star Wars" fans this past week? Earlier this week, the "Star Wars" universe exploded with excitement over the news that The Mandalorian executive producer Dave Filoni can now add "executive creative director" to his title (a move that actually took place last summer but was made official on the website this week). But this story's real lead was buried a little deeper into Variety's reporting- and it's not good news for those looking forward to Rangers of the New Republic– at least for now:

"In December, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that Filoni and Favreau are executive producing several "Mandalorian" spinoffs for Disney Plus, including "The Book of Boba Fett," which is currently shooting and premiering in December, and "Ahsoka," starring Rosario Dawson, and based on the character Filoni created in "The Clone Wars." (A third announced spinoff, "Rangers of the New Republic," is not currently in active development.)"

Now while "not currently in active development" doesn't mean the project is dead at all and since the narrative direction of the series was never officially confirmed, speculation at the time was that ex-cast member Gina Carano's Cara Dune would lead the series considering the character's new role as Marshall of the New Republic in Season 2 laid the groundwork for something more.

Of course, that all changed when Carano was booted from Lucasfilm and Disney+'s "Star Wars" spinoff series after months of controversial social media posts continued enflaming the "Star Wars" universe- culminating in an Instagram Stories post where Carano supported the idea of comparing the "persecution" that she believes conservatives endure with Jewish people in Nazi Germany. Here's a look back at the image Carano posted that was apparently the final straw for the streaming service- one of the expressions of free thought Carano stated she wouldn't back down on if she was going to "stay true" to herself before taking it down (we made out thoughts know on all of this here, here, here, here, and here).

Fans online have offered Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth and Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan Kryze as possible new leads, though nothing official from Lucasfilm or the streaming service has been released regarding the spinoff series' current status beyond the news in the Variety article.

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