Disney, Lucasfilm settle lawsuit with ‘The Mandalorian’ actress Gina Carano

A settlement was reached between Gina Carano and Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company.

Carano filed a federal lawsuit against the two companies after they fired her from the hit Disney+ “Star Wars” show “The Mandalorian” in 2021 for sharing her political views on social media, The Associated Press reported.

The Cara Dune actress had posted that American conservatives were being treated like Jews during Nazi Germany. The posts were criticized online, with users demanding she be fired, the AP reported.

She also made comments against masking during the coronavirus pandemic, made claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and spoke out against the Black Lives Matter Movement, according to The Washington Post.

Lucasfilm said at the time that the posts were “abhorrent and unacceptable" and that it had no plans to work with her in the future, Post reported.

She filed the federal lawsuit last year in California.

Carano demanded in the suit that Lucasfilm would be forced to cast her in future projects and pay at least $75,000 in punitive damages, Variety reported.

Disney filed a motion to throw out the suit, saying that her firing was protected by the First Amendment, saying the company had “a constitutional right not to associate its artistic expression with Carano’s speech,” the publication said.

She responded to the April 2024 motion on X, writing, “Disney has confirmed what has been known all along, they will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it.”

The details of the settlement were not released but it did open the door for her to work with the companies in the future.

“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,” Lucasfilm said in a statement, according to the AP. “With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future.”

The former MMA fighter-turned-actress released a statement on X after the agreement was reached, which read, “I’d like to thank you all for your unrelenting support throughout my life and career, you’ve been the heartbeat that has kept my story alive. I hope to make you proud. 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.”

With the settlement, both sides asked that the case be dismissed with prejudice so it can’t be refiled. A judge has to formally dismiss the lawsuit.

A trial had been expected to begin in Los Angeles in February, the AP reported.

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