
Ahead of a September set trial start, Disney and Gina Carano have put down their light sabers over the former MMA fighter’s discrimination lawsuit over her 2021 firing from The Mandalorian.
In a joint filing today in federal court, the Star Wars series star and the Bob Iger run conglomerate asked for the year and a half old Elon Musk backed legal action to be dismissed.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), Plaintiff Gina Carano, on the one hand, and Defendants The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, and Huckleberry Industries (US) Inc., on the other, by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate that this action and all claims, including all defenses asserted therein, be dismissed with prejudice,” said lawyers for both sides in a short but to the point document.
A judge will have to sign off on the request, but this is done and dust in a galaxy far far away and here at home with a distinct win for the openly conservative Carano.
While there are no specific details on the settlement have been revealed, like is she getting her Rebel shock trooper Cara Dune role back as desired, clearly Disney and Carani are back in business. To that, a source close to Carano told me she is “happy with how things were dealt with.”
Online earlier today a deft Carano posted somewhat cryptically at the time with a scattering of emojis: “… and the truth shall set you free”
On the other side, in this era of knee bending in the face of MAGA forces, the House of Mouse once again today adopted that trying to please tone it has been putting out there since Donald Trump took back the White House last November.
“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,” a spokesperson said Thursday. “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.”
In case you had any doubt who was the victor here, let the last sentence of the Disney ands Lucasfilm statement anthem you – hard. “With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.”
Boom!
That’s a very different tone from last year when Disney insisted, as it had before, that the ex-martial arts fighter lost her high-profile Star Wars series gig four years ago because of her decision “to publicly trivialize the Holocaust by comparing criticism of political conservatives to the annihilation of millions of Jewish people — notably, not ‘thousands’ — was the final straw for Disney.”
Or how on February 21, 2021, just after the second season of the Carano co-starring The Mandalorian was over on Disney+, Lucasfilm put out a piercing public slapdown on its relationship with the actress: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Citing progressive leaning political statements and posts from Mandalorian lead Pedro Pascal and Luke Skywalker himself (and Mandalorian Season 2 finale guest) Mark Hamill, Carano’s February 2024 wrongful termination and discrimination suit proclaimed that she was canned because of her conservative opinions and postings. “Defendants made it clear that only one orthodoxy in thought, speech, or action was acceptable in their empire, and that those who dared to question or failed to fully comply would not be tolerated,” read the jury trial seeking complaint. “And so it was with Carano.
today, it’s going to be a whole new match up for the ex-UTA represented actress (the agency dropped her not long after Disney/Lucasfilm did in February 2021), who truly leaned into her Red State beliefs (as well as starring in Daily Wire and Brietbart News backed projects) as she and her Musk paid for lawyers won round after round in court the past 18 months
Will Carano be part of the California filming Mandalorian movie? Will she get ” already promised” roles in the new Star Wars series and other full length feature films?
Might not be the Force, might not be the way (as the Mandalorians say), but we will likely know the truth in due time