Cara Dune was essentially a main character on The Mandalorian during Seasons 1 and 2, but the actress, former MMA star Gina Carano, was kicked off the show over her inability to stop tweeting--the final straw came when she compared people disagreeing with her false conservative conspiracy theories to being persecuted by Nazi Germany. The role wasn't re-cast--that character is just not around anymore. And now the Season 3 premiere of The Mandalorian has given us the details on how the writers ended up dumping her in-universe.

　　Be warned that this article contains spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

　　The character of Cara Dune, as you may recall, was a former member of the Rebellion who became a mercenary. But her adventures with our titular Mandalorian got her name out there once more, and after Season 1, she became both the marshal of Nevarro and a ranger of the New Republic. The last time we saw her was when Luke Skywalker invaded Moff Gideon's ship to save Grogu while she, Mando, and the rest of their merry band were also in the middle of doing the exact same thing. Baby Grogu left with Luke; Mando, Cara, and company had Moff Gideon in custody; the credits ran; and that was the end of Cara Dune on The Mandalorian.

　　Now, a season of The Book of Boba Fett later, Mando and Grogu are back together, and Cara Dune is nowhere to be found. But the show isn't playing coy about her fate--Mando and Greef Karga talk about where she went in their first scene together in the new season.

　　The Mandalorian returns to Nevarro early in the episode with a specific purpose: to resurrect IG-11, the Taika Waititi-voiced assassin droid who sacrificed itself in the Season 1 finale, so that it can help with his quest to Mandalore. But when Mando once again encounters Greef Karga, who runs the place, Karga immediately tries to offer him a plot of land.

　　Their meeting is interrupted by some street toughs working for a crime lord named Gorian Shard, who used to have dealings with Karga. Karga and Mando deal with them, but it's a more tense situation than Karga would like.

　　"I gotta level with you, Mando. I need a Marshal," Karga says as they walk away from that encounter.

　　"What about Marshal Dune?" Mando replies.

　　"After she brought in Moff Gideon, she was recruited by Special Forces," Gideon replied, before shifting the conversation to Gideon (put in front of a New Republic war tribunal, Karga says), and then back to the job offer for Mando.

　　And that's it! Cara Dune is still alive and potentially in play at any moment. But the galaxy being an enormous place means that it will be very easy to just never talk about her again, while also allowing the powers that be the opportunity to bring her back if they find a re-casting situation that makes sense or if Carano makes strides to rehabilitate her image in the future. No need for the finality of killing off the character.

　　Phil Owen on Google+