The former women’s MMA fighter and daughter of NFL quarterback Glenn Carano is currently working on a new project with Ben Shapiro — a project they claim will “take down the Death Star”.
However, in a strange turn of events, Lucasfilm and Disney have recently been pushing for the Star Wars actress to receive an Emmy nomination for her work as New Republic Marshal Cara Dune in the second season of The Mandalorian on Disney+.
Now, it seems that Star Wars still isn’t done with Carano’s character.
…we now know – thanks to the Japanese consumer catalogue – that the company has seemingly been given no such directive from Disney, as Cara Dune is among the six-strong minifigure line-up for set number 75315, which is based on Moff Gideon’s light cruiser.
It’s difficult to be sure from the low-resolution images in the catalogue, but the minifigure mostly looks to be the same one originally included in 2019’s 75254 AT-ST Raider. The current average price for a new copy of the same minifigure on BrickLink is roughly £20, but the launch of 75315 will likely see that cost climb back down slightly.
Also included in the Mandalorian set are Din Djarin, Grogu, Moff Gideon, Fennec Shand and a Darktrooper [sic: Dark Trooper]…
Dune used the same — or a very similar — weapon during The Mandalorian Season 2 finale episode (“Chapter 16: The Rescue”) when she stormed Gideon’s cruiser with Shand, Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), and Nite Owl warrior Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado/Sasha Banks).
The season finale, presumably, is what this upcoming LEGO set is based on.
It is important to note that, at this time, Lucasfilm has confirmed that the Cara Dune character will not be recast, despite unconfirmed reports that showrunner Jon Favreau has gone to bat for Carano.
Furthermore, the Mandalorian spinoff series that Carano’s Cara Dune was expected to star in — Rangers of the New Republic — is “no longer in active development”. This doesn’t mean the show won’t happen, but it is unlikely to look the way Favreau and Dave Filoni intended it to.
However, it is certainly intriguing that Cara Dune is once again appearing in certain pieces of Mandalorian merchandise after some products — specifically, Hasbro and Funko POP items — featuring her were pulled on the heels of her firing.
While this is almost certainly not an indication that Lucasfilm and Disney are reconsidering their decision, it is a departure from executives’ immediate reaction, which was to pull the vast majority of Cara Dune merchandise from the market.