There’s going to be a Cara Dune Lego figure. Here’s why

Cara Dune — the New Republic soldier first seen in “The Mandalorian” — will be receiving her own Lego Minifigure this summer, even though Gina Carano, who plays Dune, is no longer a member of “The Mandalorian” cast.

• Gina Carano was cut from “The Mandalorian” — and specifically Lucasfilm — after she shared a social media post that compared modern political disputes to Nazi Germany, which I wrote about for the Deseret News. The post came after months of other political social media posts in which she spoke out against COVID-19 vaccines and face masks.

How did Cara Dune get her own Lego piece?

BrickFanatics.com — a blog dedicated to Lego news and rumors — reported that Cara Dune will be getting her own “Star Wars” Lego figure, even though Carano left the “Star Wars” franchise in early 2021.

• But Lego designer Samuel Johnson recently clarified why this is happening. He said Cara Dune is getting a Lego figure — not Gina Carano.
• “The Lego Minifigure is a representation of the character, not the actress,” he tweeted.

Cara Dune toys were taken off the shelf

In February, The Hollywood Reporter explained that Hasbro would stop selling action figures based around Cara Dune. In fact, Toy retailer BigBadToyStore told The Hollywood Reporter that the company had been asked to stop making toys based around Carano’s character.

• “The ‘Star Wars’ Black Cara Dune figure was released in 2020 and sold out not long after the inventory was received,” a spokeswoman for BigBadToyStore told The Hollywood Reporter. “Hasbro planned for another production run and we were accepting preorders from that production run. Due to recent events, Hasbro was no longer approved to produce any more of this figure.”

A Funko Pop! toy for “The Mandalorian” character Cara Dune was also discontinued because of the scandal, The Direct reports.