Gina Carano Sues Lucasfilm, Disney for Firing Her from 'The Mandalorian' After 'Woke World' Clash

Actor Gina Carano sued Lucasfilm and its parent The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday over her February 2021 firing from The Mandalorian, claiming she was let go from the science fiction bounty hunter series for expressing conservative views on social media.

Carano, 41, filed the federal lawsuit in California with the help of the social media platform X. The complaint alleges her wrongful termination from the "Star Wars" galaxy Disney+ streaming series after two seasons over a post likening the treatment of American conservatives to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

"A short time ago in a galaxy not so far away, 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," the lawsuit's introduction states. "Carano was terminated from her role as swiftly as her character's peaceful home planet of Alderaan had been destroyed by the Death Star."

The lawsuit alleges she was fired because she "dared voice her own opinions" against an "online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology."

Disney and Lucasfilm have not filed a response to the lawsuit. CBN News has contacted the Walt Disney Company for comment. We'll post it here if we hear back. 

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Announcing her lawsuit in a post on X Tuesday, Carano wrote, "Hollywood says they support female representation & equal rights. Why then were my male co-stars permitted to speak without harassment & re-education courses or termination, but I was not afforded the same right to exercise my freedom of speech."

The lawsuit alleges a double standard and points to social media posts and statements by Pedro Pascal, who plays the lead character in The Mandalorian, and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill (who also appeared as a guest star in the series) about former President Donald Trump and his administration's policies, comparing them to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, according to Deadline. 

"Defendants also discriminated against Carano by treating her differently from her male co-stars who also made public, political statements on social media," the lawsuit says, according to the outlet. "Her male co-stars were not disciplined, let alone terminated in a way to destroy their careers even though some would find their statements 'abhorrent.'"

"Artists do not sign away our rights as American citizens when we enter into employment. I have spoken to all my co-stars since I was fired & there is nothing but care and kind words between us. I respect their right to free speech & do not have to think the same on every issue to be their friends & work with them & I know they feel the same towards me," Carano said in her X post. 

Carano is seeking damages to be determined by a jury trial and a court order that she be recast on the show.

The Mandalorian streamed on Disney+ for three seasons. It is now being turned into a feature film. Several spin-off series also air on the platform. 

As CBN's Faithwire reported in February 2021, Carano — a former mixed martial artist — starred as Cara Dune, a character so popular Disney+ was reportedly considering a spin-off series based on her. That is, until the company scrapped the plan because of tweets Carano posted in November 2020, arguing the U.S. needs to "put laws in place that protect us against voter fraud."

She also reportedly angered Disney insiders when she jokingly listed "beep/bop/boop" as her pronouns on Twitter.

When conservative talk radio host Joe Pagliarulo asked Carano why the "woke world" is so upset with her, the celebrity replied: "They're mad {because} I won't put pronouns in my Twitter bio to show support for trans lives. After months of harassing me in every way, I decided to put {three} very controversial words in my bio … beep/bop/boop. I'm not against trans lives at all. They need to find less abusive representation."

She said this was not about mocking trans people but a "Star Wars" reference to R2-D2, and her lawsuit called it "a playful way to defuse all the harassment she had received." 

The actor's lawsuit explains she willingly took part in Zoom meetings with leaders of LGBTQ+ groups at the company's behest with "very positive" results, but that Lucasfilm demanded a public apology in which she admitted "to mocking or insulting an entire group of people, which Carano had never done" and subjected her to other harassment over the issue.

The breaking point for Disney and Lucasfilm came via a since-deleted Instagram post, in which Carano shared the following message:

"Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors — even by children.

Because history is edited, most people today don't realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews.

How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?"

The post was seemingly a commentary on the dangerous demonization of other people, a phenomenon that eventually led to the normalization of antisemitism and, ultimately, enabled the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

In response to the backlash Carano faced for sharing the meme, Lucasfilm stated: "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there is 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."

Carano said in her social media post that X had helped fund the lawsuit. X owner Elon Musk shared her post, adding that anyone else who felt they had been wronged by the company should "let us know if you would like to join the lawsuit against Disney."

In a statement, X's head of business operations Joe Benarroch said, "As a sign of X Corp.'s commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano's lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination."

As CBN's Faithwire reported, just one day after Lucasfilm revealed it had fired the actor, Carano announced she was teaming up with news and entertainment platform The Daily Wire to produce and star in an upcoming film project on the site founded by conservative Ben Shapiro.

Her first film with the conservative media outlet, "Terror on the Prairie," was released in June 2022. 

In a tweet that same day, Carano reposted Shapiro's tweet of her statement with an analogy all Star Wars fans would recognize. 

"This is just the beginning..welcome to the rebellion," she wrote.