'The Mandalorian' Spinoff 'Rangers Of The New Republic' Is No Longer In Development At Disney+

There seems to be some trouble in a galaxy far, far away.

Rangers of the New Republic, one of several Star Wars shows that were announced during Disney's big investor presentation last December, is no longer in active development at Disney+.

Lucasfilm promoted The Mandalorian executive producer Dave Filoni to the position of "executive creative director," which inspired several fans to take to Twitter to celebrate the beloved executive's promotion yesterday. Variety reported that Filoni's promotion actually occurred last summer and yesterday's hubbub was only because Lucasfilm finally got around to updating its website to reflect Filoni's new title. But buried in that article was a Rangers of the New Republic update that does not inspire confidence in the future of the series: according to the report, the show is "not currently in active development."

While nothing was specifically confirmed in the initial announcement about this series, fan speculation suggested that it would center on Gina Carano's Cara Dune and Carl Weathers' Greef Karga, following the moment in The Mandalorian season 2 in which Cara is essentially recruited to become a "ranger." But thanks to Carano's unhinged breakdown on social media in February of this year, Lucasfilm opted to not renew the actress's contract for future projects and fully cut ties with her. With one of its primary characters now off the table (Lucasfilm has said it has no interest in recasting the role), it seems that the fate of Rangers of the New Republic is now up in the air, and it suggests that Cara Dune was a core part of the storytelling in that series.

Will the show be reworked with a different character stepping in to fill that gap? Will it be quietly abandoned altogether? Will the storylines being planned for this show be folded into the myriad other Star Wars series that have been announced? We're not sure, but since Lucasfilm has so many Star Wars irons in the fire, it can afford to take some time to figure out what it wants to do here.

Even without this show, the Disney+ Star Wars slate is still extremely robust. The Bad Batch is currently in the middle of its first season, Obi-Wan Kenobi will see the much-anticipated return of Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson is set to reprise her role in an Ahsoka series, Justin Simien (Dear White People) is working on a Lando Calrissian show, and Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) is working on a mystery-thriller series called The Acolyte.