Lucy Lawless Reveals How Gina Carano's 'The Mandalorian' Firing Affected Her Own 'Star Wars' Opportunity

 Gina Carano was fired from The Mandalorian following the second season of the hit Disney+ show due to her incendiary political statements made on social media, including comparing being an anti-vaxxer to being a Jewish person during the Holocaust. "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future," Lucasfilm said in a statement. "Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."

Following her exit, fans began to speculate about who could replace her on The Mandalorian, taking up the blaster as Cara Dune. While It has since been announced that the character will likely not be recast, many people suggested Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless as a suitable replacement. However, in a new interview with Metro.co.uk, Lawless explained that all of the fan-casting may have cost her a different job In the Star Wars universe.

"Well to be honest with you, I was already in discussions about something on – it wasn't The Mandalorian – something Star Wars-affiliated," Lawless admitted. "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?"

Lawless explained that even though she had nothing to do with Carano's firing, she became "political" due to fan association. "I became political and I had nothing to do with the discussion," she revealed. Despite losing out on that opportunity, Lawless was still thankful that she had such passionate fans. "But that's the way the world is and they meant it out of love, and I thank the fans for their fealty to me," she said. "I haven't thought about that since, so it hasn't given me any pain, but that was my thought at the time, like, ooh, this makes me look like a political appointment, and not an actress."