A planned Star Wars series is reportedly on the backburner.
A report from Variety indicates that Lucasfilm has stopped development on the announced Rangers of the New Republic series.
It’s unclear as to the reasons as well as if the show can still return to the schedule, or if it is now dead in the water.
The Cara controversy
The most obvious explanation for the show’s delay is the loss of its planned leading character.
Announced as part of the wave of Star Wars shows last fall, it was expected that Rangers would star Gina Carano as Cara Dune, the bounty hunter she portrayed on The Mandalorian.
The character became popular with fans, especially the scene in the Season 2 finale where Cara teams up with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), Fennec Shan (Ming-Na Wen) and Koska Reeves (Mercedes Varnado, better known as WWE star Sasha Banks).
Giving her a spin-off made sense would likely have had Cara setting up her own band to aid her in enforcing the law in the galaxy for some adventures.
The series would take place in the same continuity as Mandalorian and the upcoming Ahsoka series with Rosario Dawson as the former Jedi. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kenedy even stated the shows would have an epic crossover event.
But in February of 2021, Carano was fired by Lucasfilm for controversial social media posts. The company has also removed any Cara-themed merchandise (even as they are still pushing Carano for Emmy consideration).
Is it truly dead?
Amid the plans for the series following Carano’s exit was the possibility of replacing Cara with Hera Syndulla, the heroic pilot from the Rebels animated series.
There was also the possibility of reworking it to follow Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan, but that appears unlikely to happen.
This doesn’t mean the project is completely dead. The upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series was likewise put on a delay but is currently filming.
It’s possible Lucasfilm simply has so many other projects to handle that they don’t want to spread out for another series.
Besides Obi-Wan, filming is underway for Andor with Diego Luna reprising his role of the Rebel spy before the events of the Rogue One movie.
The company is also preparing The Book of Boba Fett, due later in 2021, as the famed bounty hunter takes over Jabba the Hutt’s former criminal empire.
The report comes alongside Lucasfilm clarifying that Dave Filoni’s new title of Executive Creative Director isn’t a promotion so much as the job he has maintained for some time.
While it may be disappointing that Rangers aren’t coming as soon as fans hoped, there’s a chance the series isn’t fully over just yet.
The Mandalorian seasons 1&2 streaming on Disney+.