{"id":927054,"date":"2026-04-29T20:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/927054\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:16:22","slug":"gina-carano-talks-ronda-rousey-fight-mandalorian-grogu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/927054\/","title":{"rendered":"Gina Carano Talks Ronda Rousey Fight, Mandalorian & Grogu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt was more than a decade ago, in a hallway near an arena, when Gina Carano<\/a> first met Ronda Rousey. <\/p>\n

\n\tCarano was wearing big blue heels \u2014 she remembers this clearly \u2014 on her way down to the ringside seats. Rousey was an Olympic judoka with a few professional fights and a name nobody really knew yet. <\/p>\n

\n\tShe walked up with what Carano now describes as \u201ca mischievous grin,\u201d looked her in the eye, and said, \u201cYou\u2019re not that big.\u201d Carano, in the heels, looked down at Rousey and said, \u201cHi, Ronda.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThat was the introduction. They never fought. Rousey became the most famous woman in the history of mixed martial arts, won and lost the U.F.C. bantamweight title, retired, joined the W.W.E., retired again. <\/p>\n

\n\tCarano, meanwhile, went the other way: She made Haywire, for Steven Soderbergh, a Fast & Furious sequel, and then, in 2019, joined The Mandalorian<\/a> as Cara Dune, a New Republic shock trooper who was meant to anchor her own spinoff, Rangers of the New Republic. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn February 2021, Lucasfilm<\/a> let her go after a series of social-media posts \u2014 among them a Twitter bio that read \u201cbeep\/bop\/boop,\u201d added shortly after her co-star Pedro Pascal<\/a> had put \u201che\/him\u201d in his, and an Instagram post comparing the contemporary American climate for conservatives to that of Jews in Nazi Germany. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe studio called the posts \u201cabhorrent and unacceptable,\u201d and said they had denigrated people \u201cbased on their cultural and religious identities.\u201d The spinoff was scrapped. Cara Dune was written out. <\/p>\n

\n\tThree years later, with the backing of Elon Musk, Carano sued the Walt Disney Company for wrongful termination. The suit settled this past August, with a statement from Disney whose tone<\/a> was markedly different compared to the harsh firing announcement that came before it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms.\u00a0Carano\u00a0in the near future,\u201d read the statement, attributed to a Lucasfilm spokesperson. \u201cMs.\u00a0Carano\u00a0was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the suit behind her, Carano\u2019s next move is not in the acting arena but in the ring. She finds herself preparing to fight Rousey in Los Angeles at the Intuit Dome on May 16 \u2014 what will mark the first move into MMA from Most Valuable Promotions<\/a>, the company founded in 2021 by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter that single hallway run-in <\/strong>a decade ago, neither woman encountered each other again until the buildup for this fight began. In the months since, they have stood across from each other repeatedly, at press conferences and at the choreographed staredowns the modern fight calendar require.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt every one of them, Carano says, Rousey has looked up and said, in some variation, the same thing: \u201cYou\u2019re really not that big.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tCarano laughs as she relays that in a recent phone conversation. She is, by her own measurement, two inches taller than Rousey, and she outweighs her by some unspecified amount. \u201cI\u2019m still bigger than you,\u201d was her response. <\/p>\n

\n\tCarano is 43; Rousey, 39. Carano lives in Las Vegas, where, for the last six months, she has been training out of a fighting gym. Older men and teenagers stop her between rounds, she said, to tell her she looks lean.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe transformation has been considerable. In September 2024 \u2014 about six months after the last time she sat down with The Hollywood Reporter <\/a>\u2014 she was by her own account pre-diabetic, depressed and physically unable to walk long distances without pain. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was in a horrific condition, just physically and a bit emotionally,\u201d she says. \u201cI kind of lost my way and was just depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn late January of this year, she got on a Zoom with Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau<\/a> and Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni. She had mentioned it on a podcast, and the line had been picked up \u2014 \u201cGina Carano talks to Jon Favreau\u201d \u2014 and used in blogs and social media to suggest either that Cara Dune was returning or that nothing of the kind had been discussed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it was, \u2018let\u2019s touch base,\u2019\u201d Carano says of the conversation. \u201cJon Favreau and Dave Filoni were two people that I always respected, and we went through two seasons together, and we had a great relationship. And even during everything that was happening, Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau were never the bad guys to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Disney+<\/p>\n

\n\tShe would not reveal whether the conversation had touched on a possible return to Star Wars. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI won\u2019t really disclose any of that,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I will say that for me, it was an important conversation. To Zoom, to see each other, to mend whatever, to make sure everybody was good. And everybody was good.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tShe did not tell them about the upcoming fight; the news about it had not yet broken. She says she found herself thinking, during and after the call, that she hoped Favreau\u2019s The Mandolarian and Grogu \u2014 the feature film he is directing, set in the universe she was once a part of and opening May 22 \u2014 does well at the box office. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJon Favreau directed it, and he\u2019s a good man,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s a great storyteller. He\u2019s an amazing artist. And I would really like to see all of this turmoil within the Star Wars fandom kind of come to an end. It just feels like it\u2019s a never-ending war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe turmoil within the Star Wars fandom, in Carano\u2019s telling, is a microcosm of a broader sickness. There are, she says, \u201ctwo extremist sides\u201d \u2014 one that \u201creally tried to get me canceled, and succeeded,\u201d and another that reacts to the first. <\/p>\n

\n\tShe says she believes outrage culture is simmering down. She would not say whether she stood by the social-media posts that ended her run on The Mandalorian, nor did I ask her to relitigate them. (She has, in previous interviews, declined to apologize for them, while describing the Holocaust comparison as having been misread.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe settlement with Disney is bound by confidentiality. Asked whether she had been remunerated as part of it, she responds, \u201cI\u2019m not able to talk about the details of the settlement. I\u2019m not able to talk about anything regarding it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat she would talk about, at length, was a single sentence in the statement Disney issued in August: the one about how she was \u201calways well respected by her directors, co-stars and staff,\u201d and that Disney looks \u201cforward to identifying opportunities to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe reads the line over the phone.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNobody really picked it up,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s such a remarkable contrast from that first very horrendous statement that they had put out years earlier. I don\u2019t recall Disney really doing that a lot at the time. That speaks leagues.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tShe suspects the press prefers grievance to reconciliation and insists she is not holding grudges. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love peace,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen all parties can be happy, we can move on\u201d from a chapter of her life she refers to as \u201ca very harsh education.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHer relationship with Pedro Pascal, her former co-star, is one of the casualties of the period. Pascal, who never publicly denounced her during the firing, was, she previously said, the cast member who quietly urged her, in the months before, to placate her critics \u2014 to say what the online mob wanted to hear. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe two last spoke, she says, when their castmate Carl Weathers died in February 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cBut no,\u201d she clarifies. \u201cMe and Pedro don\u2019t keep in touch.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about Kathleen Kennedy, who has left her position as president of Lucasfilm<\/a>, Carano says, \u201cI wish her the best.\u201d She adds that she hopes Kennedy would one day write a book or be the subject of a documentary: \u201cYou never know what somebody else is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fight itself, against Rousey, is something Carano appears cautious not to over-explain. It is the thing that has defined or the past six months. The appeal of fighting, as opposed to acting or business, she explains, is its honesty: \u201cThe opponent that you\u2019re training for is right in front of you. And you know what their intentions are, and they know your intentions are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years she has been away from the ring, professional fighting has changed. She worried, before this camp began, that she would no longer \u201cfit into the world of fighting\u201d because \u201ceverybody has to be almost like a W.W.E. character now.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tShe had braced, in particular, for Rousey to play a villainous part \u2014 to deliver the trash-talking heel turn that the buildup machine, in 2026, seems to demand of any fight worth selling. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe persona has not materialized. <\/p>\n

\n\tRousey, in Carano\u2019s account, has been straightforward, even warm, at the press conferences; she has not, so far as Carano can tell, performed for the cameras at all. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure how she was going to stand across to me or talk to me,\u201d Carano says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been refreshing. It\u2019s just been super refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCarano is plotting out her next moves for after the fight. She has a new manager, who is also a producer, and who, she says, \u201cpopped up when I needed him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThere are projects in development, she says. She wants to return to acting, but differently this time \u2014 \u201cto tell stories, and to be passionate about my work, like never before.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Disney statement, and the Favreau Zoom, suggest the door is not closed. For now, at least, she is three weeks out. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m coming from prediabetic, just in horrific condition, to becoming an athlete again,\u201d she says, confidently and brightly. \u201cAnd to do that in a year and a half \u2014 there\u2019s just been so many different levels of it.\u201d She mentions in passing that Rousey had wanted only one fight, and that the fight Rousey had wanted was hers. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m taking that opportunity,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been truly one of the hardest but healthiest things I\u2019ve ever done for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was more than a decade ago, in a hallway near an arena, when Gina Carano first met…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,256959,196569,37021,22131,167073,21417,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-927054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-gina-carano","11":"tag-jon-favreau","12":"tag-lucasfilm","13":"tag-pedro-pascal","14":"tag-the-mandalorian","15":"tag-the-mandalorian-and-grogu","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116489840791382651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}