Gina Carano
Credit: Sarah Stier/Getty
Key Points
Gina Carano will return to MMA fighting five years after being fired from The Mandalorian.
Carano was terminated from the Star Wars series following controversial social media posts involving COVID-19 vaccines and misinformation about voter fraud.
“I really feel you’re going to see the best version of me,” Carano said of her return to the ring.
Five years after being fired from The Mandalorian, Gina Carano is returning to her former passion — MMA fighting.
Ahead of her May 16 fight against Ronda Rousey, Carano discussed what it felt like to return to the world of mixed martial arts after a slew of screen roles that included Fast & Furious 6, Deadpool, as well as portraying mercenary Cara Dune in two seasons of the Disney+ Star Wars series. The actress lost her role in February 2021, following a string of controversial social media posts.
“The last couple of years were a bit tough,” Carano said at the event. “And now my family looks at me and says, ‘You look healthy again.’ And my mom was like, ‘Are you going to do this? You have to make a decision, yes or no. And if you do it, you do it 100%.'”
Carano noted when she gets in the ring, “all of the impurities and bullshit goes away,” adding, “I missed this feeling, and I think the people that care about me know how precious this is to get back to myself after losing myself for so long.”
Gina Carano in ‘The Mandalorian’
Credit: Justin Lubin/Lucasfilm Ltd.
“A lot of people only know me as an actor and then they find out I’m a fighter. And Ronda’s been so gracious to reintroduce me to the world,” Carano continued. “So it’s really cool to have that recognized. I think that you’re going to see the best of me. I really feel you’re going to see the best version of me.”
Carano’s social media posts that led to her firing included her comparing modern American politics to Nazi Germany, mocking the use of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and and implying that the 2020 presidential election was a result of “voter fraud” amid Donald Trump’s disproven claims of election-rigging.
Gina Carano speaking in New York City in 2026
Credit: Sarah Stier/Getty
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She told The Hollywood Reporter that in the wake of her firing, she “just laid down and cried.”
“I curled into a fetal position. It’s not that I didn’t think that something like that could happen. It was that I couldn’t imagine they would put out this horrendous statement about me after working with me — the most powerful entertainment company in the world saying that about me,” she said.
Defending one of her posts, Carano said that it “just made sense — don’t hate your neighbor. Before the Nazis were as powerful as they became, you had to make it OK to hate this person next to you. That’s how we get to dangerous places. And history does repeat itself.”
In the aftermath of her firing, she filed a lawsuit in California federal court alleging wrongful termination and discrimination, and asking for Lucasfilm to reinstate her in the role of Cara Dune. The lawsuit was settled the following year.
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