Star Wars
Grand Admiral Thrawn made his first appearance in Heir to the Empire in 1991 and has been a fixture in the Star Wars universe ever since. After he was named in Star Wars: The Mandalorian, rumors arose that the popular character would appear in the next season of the hit series. Speculation continues that Benedict Cumberbatch could impersonate the antagonist. In an interview with Collider, however, the actor denied these rumors:"That's a clear no from me at the moment. There is no way I want to be made up blue. My time with my children is very valuable to me, and so do I think sitting in a makeup chair and getting dyed blue, the time it would take to do that and then take it off ... It's just not the time in my life for that. "
So Benedict Cumberbatch will not be the face of Grand Admiral Thrawn. But that doesn't mean the character won't make an appearance on the series. The actor has his hands full at the moment anyway with the filming of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, for which the horror director Sam Raimi is now responsible.
Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. The second season of The Mandalorian ended last December, and filming for the third season is slated to begin on April 5th. The actress Gina Carano, who played the character Cara Dune, will no longer be part of the series - together with the character.
Star Wars: Cara Dune Funko Pop! Cancelled After Gina Carano Firing
Yet another piece of Star Wars merchandise for Gina Carano's Cara Dune character has been cancelled in the wake of her firing from the popular Disney+ streaming series. It was previously reported that Hasbro had cancelled multiple figures based on the character's likeness and now another company has axed pre-orders for a toy inspired by the character. The Direct brings word of online retailer Entertainment Earth who sent out emails to customers that had pre-ordered the Funko Star Wars: The Mandalorian Cara Dune Pop! Vinyl Figure, letting them know that the item wouldn't be shipped this summer and all orders were canceleld.
“Unfortunately, we're sorry to report that the manufacturer has notified us that we will not be receiving any additional shipments of the Star Wars: The Mandalorian Cara Dune Pop! Vinyl Figure (Item FU42065) you ordered because they have discontinued production of this item,' the email reads (H/T @dis.pops on Instagram). 'No additional information was provided to us by the manufacturer as to why this occurred. Sadly, that means we will not be able to ship it to you and have canceled it from your order. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.”
The sudden removal of Carano was the result of multiple controversial social media posts by the actress, the backlash off which came to a head last month and saw the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trend online in the hours before Disney announced she would not return to the series. An uncredited statement from Lucasfilm was released that evening which read:
“Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Earlier this week during the Disney Shareholders Meeting the 'firing' of the actress was brought up by and addressed by CEO Bob Chapek.
When asked if a Disney 'Blacklist' existed and was the reason behind Carano's firing, Chapek replied: “I don't really see Disney as characterizing itself as left-leaning or right-leaning, yet instead of standing for values, values that are universal, values of respect, values of decency, values of integrity and values of inclusion and we seek to have the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live in. And I think that’s a world we should all live in harmony and peace.”
Production on The Mandalorian season three is scheduled to begin this year.