The Return of Gina Carano & Cara Dune? Disney Pays Up In Their Settlement With Former Mandalorian Actress

Making settlements aren't always an admission of guilt, but in this case it appears to be so. If paying up against a formerly scandalized actress in a settlement doesn't mean that, what does?

But this is not the end of it. Disney makes a larger statement, which we believe is fashioned to salvage their image– NOT to make Disney look bad.

"With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future."

Some people say this is LucasFilm eating crow. I beg to differ, and we will lay out our case that this is mostly a loss (not a win), in this article.

Firstly, you can go to THR.com to find their reporting on this, or just continue reading our article.

Disney, Lucasfilm Settle Lawsuit From Gina Carano Over ‘Mandalorian’ Firing

The actress accused the entertainment giant of discriminating against her for voicing certain opinions on hot-button issues.

The Hollywood ReporterWinston Cho

So, is this what we're supposed to believe... that a studio that previously called her a bigot, wanted her to be scolded and possibly be re-educated by a disciplinary board of over 40 employees during a call, and told she must recant her beliefs in so many words– they are now trying to convince the public that they wish to work with her? Are we really supposed to believe that they will bring back Cara Dune? No hard feelings? Even if they did, this is (in our opinion) a larger attempt to make themselves look benevolent– not weak.

Sure, they have admitted that they should work with her, and maybe not have fired her, but this doesn't say that Disney was morally or legally wrong to do what they did. And even though the settlement may be large, it wouldn't be nearly as much much money as a guilty verdict in court. It's nothing compared to what it might have been.

So, not only does Disney get to "try to rehabilitate" their image this way, but this is not a legal win for Carano either. In reality, it is a loss of much of the work Elon Musk and Gina Carano did in the interest of a larger goal– not to win a personal settlement, but instead to get to discovery, and to the court of public opinion with solid footing, afterwards.

Because the truth will be laid bare.

"Discovery" is the phase in lawsuits (especially dealing with corporations) in which a party must relinquish private records to the public, laying bare the true record of what really went on behind closed doors. This enables a final judgment to make more sense to the public (when all other evidence does not make the case more clearly). It allows the public a rare glimpse behind the curtain of the hidden corporate goings-on.

Regardless of Gina's latest tweet, I do not think this has occurred. While Gina may have the truth, I do not think the truth is being given to the public, and we may never have it, on this case.

There are multiple opinions on this, but Nerdrotic lays out the positive side of this case well. He tends to be bullish on the culture wars, and it often shows.

Whether Gina is "the highest paid Star Wars actor of all time" now (how can we even know that since these settlement amounts are confidential?), what we DO KNOW now is that Disney is not required, having been settled out of court, to expose their dirty laundry to public exposure. Nobody will really know what happened here as a result, and this is also no longer a win for the public, because Disney was never called out for their behavior, meaning they could do it again in the future.

Disney gets to silence Carano by paying her off in a settlement. That is essentially what the money is for. It is "shut up" money.

Mr H Reviews goes over this negative side of the settlement here.

Legal Mindset also gives a level-headed reaction here, though veering to the side of positive. Be careful to notice that he agrees with me that the objective of discovery was always a big goal here that didn't get achieved, and that Disney really is trying to obscure the reality, which we can all see clearly if we notice that their public statement is not entirely true. They didn't actually respect her then, and we doubt they respect her now, either. Her mistreatment resulted from this disrespect. But they'd like people to forget about that.

I do think that Legal Mindset is correct that it is a win for Carano to be working again. But for the public, maybe not so much.

Thankfully for us, we don't necessarily need a win here to know that Disney is in the wrong. We already think that, with or without the case. But this belief may change in the mind of many, now. Disney may get to either let things go back to normal, or to make the case publicly (in the court of public opinion) that they have been benevolent to Gina in some way. Maybe by saying "let bygones be bygones." Maybe by saying they "have a right to their own private politics." Maybe by saying that "things just didn't work out" between Disney & Carano. Maybe that there was "just a misunderstanding." But in any case, the true facts can now be obscured by Disney, and Carano is required to play this game in the future and into eternity.

She has, truth be told, allowed Disney to gag her.

It's a tale as old as time in Hollywood. And it has contributed to many mysteries remaining mysteries in Tinseltown.

It's not to say that Gina did the wrong thing. We cannot judge her or Disney in the final court of opinion here since (again) we lack the true facts. And Gina may have simply been tired of all the drama. Wanting all that to "go away" can be a reason to let a lot of things go. Legal disputes can be incredibly taxing, stressful, and expensive. But this was our best chance to let the corporate world know that they ought not be able to police the politics of each of their employees through surveillance of social media posts... and then slander them, or fire them over it.

But wait– maybe this is a good thing.

Let's turn the tables on this.

Maybe a conservative company should also be able to do this. Maybe any company can now just fire employees for their "dumb opinions"– political or otherwise. Maybe that is the final takeaway here– that punishing the employee for the differing politics of the employer is a legally allowable outcome. Because if you think about it, it has already been well codified into law (in many states) that an employer can fire an employee for almost any reason.

So, maybe this is the final domino falling into place, telling all of us that your politics and your private opinion (made public) is one of those many reasons. Maybe this is a perfectly acceptable reason in the court of public opinion, to "can" a "transgressive" employee. Maybe we can even publicly disassociate with them, falling short of slandering them, of course.

Obviously we are being a bit ironic here. Nevertheless, somewhat sadly, the amount of charity exhibited towards others of various beliefs in our society may be effected by what our courts and courts of public opinion will tolerate. And that sword goes both ways.

In any case, what we hoped for with this case has not occurred, but it does give Carano a much needed respite from all the battling with Disney, and maybe that is all we needed. We love that Gina stood her ground. We value people fighting for their rights. And we understand the deep suffering (I think) that comes with the wider society not understanding, relating, or caring about our side of the story, and firing us over it.

Unfair as it may be, this may have been the best outcome for everyone, but hopefully Disney does not try this method of "defrocking" their employees in the future. We will see if this sets a new precedent.

May the force be with Gina Carano and may Cara Dune one day return.

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Did you appreciate this update on Gina Carano and on the potential future of Cara Dune? Do you see this positively or negatively? Do you think Dune will return? Let us know your thoughts down below (with sub) or on our socials!