Star Wars: Lucy Lawless May Have Lost Part in Franchise After Mandalorian Fancasting
The Star Wars franchise was met with surprising news earlier this year, when it was confirmed that Cara Dune actress Gina Carano had been fired from The Mandalorian and future Star Wars projects. The decision occurred after Carano shared several controversial and anti-Semitic posts on social media, sparking a fan movement calling for the actress to be removed. Shortly after, speculation began about whether or not the role of Cara Dune would be recast, or Lucasfilm would shelve the character entirely. If the company went with the former option, fans had voiced a desire to see Lucy Lawless take over the role — and apparently, that had an unintentional effect. In a recent interview with Metro, Lawless revealed that she had been in talks with Lucasfilm for a different role in the Star Wars galaxy, but that the offer might have fallen through due to the fan campaign.
"Well to be honest with you, I was already in discussions about something on - it wasn't The Mandalorian - something Star Wars-affiliated," Lawless revealed. "It might have hurt me in some way because then they couldn't hire me because it would seem to be pandering to... I'm just guessing here, I don't know anything, but in some ways, it can be unhelpful, because if they pander to this fan group, then how are you going to pander to every other fan group, do you know what I mean?"
It's unclear at this point what non-Mandalorian project Lawless could have been offered a role in, especially given how the franchise is expanding in the next few years. There are the Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic Disney+ series, as well as the Patty Jenkins-directed Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie.
"Of course, you always want to do a blockbuster. That's bloody fun and everything," Lawless revealed to ComicBook.com earlier this year. "I must say, I'm really over action. That was never my gig and I just muscled through it, but hated all that. What do I prefer? I think apart from My Life As Murder, I have interests behind the camera and I see myself ... That's where I see myself going. I don't need to be seen ever again."
She added, "Oh wait, I forgot. I am in a blockbuster, I'm part of Minions this year. Which is coming out, actually, they pushed it to next year. But I'm part of that, part of The Spine Of Night, which is this crazy ... I had to support that, I had to jump on board because it was so weird. I was like, these people are doing something different and I think that's coming out in some format right now. I can't remember what. It will come out soon. But yeah, those are my two blockbusters, but I'm in Minions and it's super, I'm super excited about that."