A new report claims that Disney and Lucasfilm are no longer actively developing their recently announced Disney+ series Rangers of the New Republic.
This report comes from Variety writer Adam B. Vary.
Vary writes, “A third announced spinoff, ‘Rangers of the New Republic,’ is not currently in active development.”
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced Rangers of the New Republic back in December during Disney’s 2020 Investor Day presentation.
She stated, “Today, I’m excited to share with you that Jon and Dave are concurrently developing two new spin-off series exclusively for Disney+. One, the Rangers of the New Republic and the other featuring fan favorite Ahsoka Tano.”
She added, “Set within the timeline of the The Mandalorian these interconnected shows along with future stories will excite new audiences, embrace our most passionate fans, and will culminate in a climactic story event.”
In their press materials for Investor Day 2020, they worded it a little differently.
It reads, “Set within the timeline of ‘The Mandalorian,’ Rangers of the New Republic is a new live-action series from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni that will intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.”
No other details about the show were officially announced.
Star Wars scooper Corey Van Dyke from the Kessel Run Transmissions YouTube channel claims the Rangers of the New Republic was supposed to star Cara Dune played by Gina Carano and Bo-Katan played by Katee Sackhoff.
He wrote on Twitter, “Like we’ve said before, this was the Cara Dune/Bo-Katan series before everything went down.”
Fellow scooper Bespin Bulletin also claimed the show was supposed to star Gina Carano.
They wrote, “Rangers of the New Republic was announced in December alongside the Ahsoka series, with both series taking place in The Mandalorian timeline and would ultimately lead to a large crossover event.”
Bespin Bulletin added, “Since the announcement the lead of the series, Gina Carano was let go by Lucasfilm and this is most likely the reason why development of Rangers has come to a grinding halt.”
Again to reiterate, there has been no official announcement that Carano’s Cara Dune was supposed to star in the Rangers of the New Republic series.
However, there was a report in The Hollywood Reporter following Disney’s firing that implied Carano was supposed to helm the show.
Aaron Couch, Tatiana Siegel, and Borys Kit wrote, “The actress, who sources say made $25,000 to $50,000 per episode of The Mandalorian, was poised to be touted during the presentation, in which Kathleen Kennedy announced 10 new Star Wars shows, including Rangers of the New Republic, a series that seemed tailor-made for Carano.”
They would cite one anonymous source that stated, “She was originally in that presentation when they announced all those things, and they pulled her off of it.”
However, another source allegedly countered as they wrote, “A Lucasfilm source counters that Carano was never officially part of the Dec. 10 presentation and no negotiations for future work had taken place.”
As a reminder, Lucasfilm and Disney fired Carano through a press statement. A spokesman wrote, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.”
They added, “Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The social media post in question saw Carano post to her Instagram Stories a screenshot of an Instagram post from warriorpriestgympodcast warning about the dangers of hating your neighbor and how it can lead to extreme violence.
Not only did they lie about Carano’s social media posts in their initial press statement announcing she had been fired, but Disney CEO Bob Chapek doubled down on that lie during Disney’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
When asked about Carano’s firing, Chapek stated, “I don’t really see Disney as characterizing itself as left leaning or right leaning. Yet, instead standing for values. Values that are universal. Values of respect. Values of decency. Values of integrity. And values of inclusion.”
He continued, “And we seek to have not only how we operate, but the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live. And I think that’s a world we all should live in, in harmony and peace.”
It’s clear Disney does not actually embrace those values given how they treated Carano. They disrespected her and showed no decency by firing her through a press statement. And they clearly showed no integrity by lying about her social media posts.
And clearly they don’t value inclusion as it appears her opinions on social media were the cause of her firing.
Regardless of whether or not Carano was supposed to star in Rangers of the New Republic, if this report from Variety is true, the fact that the show is no longer in active development means Lucasfilm’s plans for The Mandalorian are definitely changing. Remember the show was supposed to lead up to a climactic event.
One has to wonder if that climactic event is also off the table and how taking Rangers out of active development effects the other Mandalorian centric shows like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Book of Boba Fett.
It’s hard not to imagine that Lucasfilm is in complete chaos given they have taken a show out of active development less than six months after they announced it as a gem in their Disney+ portfolio.
And if indeed the show was supposed to star Carano, it coming out of active development seems to indicate the rumors of Carano returning are just that rumors and there is nothing to them.
However, it could mean that Disney was talking to Carano and she told them to take a hike or negotiations fell through.
But what do you make of this report that Rangers of the New Republic is no longer in active development? What do you think it means for The Mandalorian?