(LifeSiteNews) – Conservative actress Gina Carano and leftist entertainment giant Disney have settled the former’s wrongful termination lawsuit, with the latter issuing a statement opening the door to reviving the Star Wars role she lost for dissenting from woke orthodoxy.
In February 2021, the Disney-owned Lucasfilm terminated its association with Carano following online activists’ uproar over a social media post in which the former MMA fighter warned 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?”
In response, Lucasfilm issued a statement saying Carano, who co-starred as heroic mercenary Cara Dune in the popular Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian and had been slated to helm her own spinoff, “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.” No such denigration in her remarks had ever been identified, but The Hollywood Reporter quoted one source as saying Lucasfilm had “been looking for a reason to fire her for two months, and today was the final straw.”
The move sparked a backlash against Disney among conservatives, and with the exception of small projects such as a role in a streaming movie produced by conservative outlet The Daily Wire, Carano’s acting career languished.
In February 2024, Carano took tech mogul Elon Musk up on his public offer to finance lawsuits for those “canceled” over their free speech on Twitter/X, and filed a wrongful termination suit against the company, alleging Disney “bullied Ms. Carano, trying to force her to conform to their views about cultural and political issues, and when that bullying failed, they fired her.”
On Thursday, Variety reported that the parties have reached a settlement in the suit. While no details of the terms have been released, Lucasfilm issued a statement that “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. 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. With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.”
The statement falls short of an explicit retraction or apology, but hints at the possibility of bringing back Carano as Dune in some capacity. Moreover, Carano herself was pleased by the outcome, first posting “and the truth shall set you free,” then issuing a full statement of her own.
I have come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm @disney @Lucasfilm which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force.
I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, @elonmusk a man I’ve never met,… https://t.co/qiAX7W1vgf
— Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) August 7, 2025
“I believe [this] is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force,” Carano said, before thanking Musk, her attorneys at Schaerr|Jaffe, her fans for their support, and God “for His love and grace in this outcome.”
“I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me,” she said. “Yes, I’m smiling.”
Once a unifying cultural institution, over the past decade especially Disney has steadily infused left-wing politics into the army of entertainment properties it owns, such as appeasing LGBT “representation” demands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, normalizing transgenderism and same-sex unions in animation aimed at younger audiences, selling LGBT “pride” merchandise, using films such as its failed “Snow White” remake as vehicles for feminism, and more.
In recent months there has been speculation about Disney finally backtracking from its woke turn, between the removal of a planned transgender storyline from its upcoming Pixar animated series “Win or Lose,” rumors of reshoots removing political content from February’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” and the conspicuous omission of two diversity initiatives from its latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
While much has been made of the financial toll taken by Disney’s “woke” approach to Star Wars and Marvel not resonating with fans as well as its failed battle with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and also public lip service by CEO Bob Iger about toning down the company’s role in the culture war, last April shareholders rejected a bid by investor Nelson Peltz and former Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to take over the board and shift the company back to its roots.
This summer, two other developments suggested woke activists may be in retreat within Disney: executive intervention to remove “queer-coded” subtext from the Pixar animated feature Elio, and the long-awaited Fantastic Four: First Steps using Marvel’s original superhero family as an affirmation of motherhood and the intrinsic value of children, complete with a scene in which Sue “Invisible Woman” Storm uses her invisibility powers to view her preborn son Franklin in the womb.
