Cara Dune-Centric Star Wars Show Rangers Of The New Republic Has Apparently Been Scrapped

Based on comments by Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, it sounds like the Disney+ show "Rangers of the New Republic," which was announced during Disney Investor Day 2020, is pretty much dead. In fact, there were never even any scripts written for it.

"Rangers of the New Republic" was set to centre on the character of Cara Dune, played by Gina Carano in "The Mandalorian." However, Carano was fired from the show in February 2021 following a social media post that compared being a Republican to being Jewish during the Holocaust. This seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as Carano had previously sparked several other controversies by making comments that mocked trans people. 

In the January 2022 issue of Empire, which spotlights upcoming Disney+ "Star Wars" show "The Book of Boba Fett," Kennedy said, "We'd never even written any scripts or anything on ['Rangers of the New Republic']," indicating that the show faltered before it even got out of the starting gate (Carano was fired just a few months after it was announced). It was first reported that "Rangers of the New Republic" was no longer in active development back in May 2021, and now it looks like the plans for it are going to be folded into other shows in the Mando-verse.

Kennedy continued, "Some of [Rangers of the New Republic] will figure into future episodes, I'm sure, of 'Mandalorian.'" Like "The Book of Boba Fett" and the upcoming "Ahsoka" spin-off, "Rangers" was set to exist in a shared corner and time of the "Star Wars" universe with "The Mandalorian." It was said that the storylines of these shows would eventually crossover and build to a major event (similar to the crossover events deployed by Marvel Comics). So, it might not actually be that difficult to fold ideas for "Rangers of the New Republic" into "The Mandalorian."

The backlash to Carano's firing was largely political (even before the controversies, there had been criticisms of her painfully wooden acting in "The Mandalorian") and not many "Star Wars" fans are likely to be heartbroken about losing a show that we barely knew anything about. That said, "Rangers of the New Republic" would have been an excellent opportunity to bring back Captain Carson Teva, the New Republic X-wing pilot played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (aka Appa from "Kim's Convenience") and introduced in the "Mandalorian" episode "Chapter 10: The Passenger" (aka the one where Baby Yoda won't stop eating the poor frog lady's eggs). 

If elements of "Rangers" are going to be incorporated into "Mandalorian," then hopefully Lee can return in a more substantial role. His TV son, Simu Liu, recently landed on Disney+ in his movie "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," so this could be something of a streaming service family reunion. 

Who knows — maybe if we all wish upon a star, Appa and Jung will finally hug it out.