Ex-'Mandalorian' star Gina Carano begins filming first project after controversy

Gina Carano is gearing up for her new gig after being ousted from Disney+'s "The Mandalorian" following the star's controversial social media posts.

Carano has teamed up with The Daily Wire, a publication co-founded by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro to start star and produce "Terror on the Prairie." The Daily Wire first announced the collaboration in February but announced Tuesday filming has begun this week.

The film which is expected to premiere spring 2022 and centers around "a pioneer family living on the Great Plains of Montana who must fight for their lives against a gang of vicious outlaws," according to The Daily Wire's announcement.

Carano received backlash online earlier this year for sharing a series of incendiary social media posts and memes mentioning Jeffrey Epstein and comparing conservatives in the U.S. to Holocaust victims. Lucasfilm later confirmed to USA TODAY that Carano would no longer star in "The Mandalorian."

When it was first announced Carano would be working with The Daily Wire, the 39-year-old actress shared news of the partnership on social media, calling it "the rebellion" in a tweet.

Carano also celebrated her collaboration with The Daily Wire on Instagram, expressing gratitude for the fans who still supported her at the time.

"I’d like to thank you all from the deepest part of my heart for the love I’ve received over the past 24 hours," she wrote. "I would not be here without your support. Thank you to @realdailywire @officialbenshapiro for helping make one of my dreams — to develop and produce my own film — come true. I cried out and my prayer was answered."

More: Disney CEO responds to Gina Carano 'Mandalorian' controversy, talks 'values that are universal'

Carano also took aim at cancel culture, delivering a "direct message of hope" to anyone "living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob."

"I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same," she added. "They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them."

In a Feb. 11 statement, Lucasfilm said it didn't currently employ Carano, who played ex-Rebel soldier Cara Dune, and there were no plans for her to be in future episodes of "The Mandalorian."

Lucasfilm simultaneously denounced Carano's posts as denigrating people's cultural and religious identities, calling them abhorrent and unacceptable.

Gina Carano faces backlash after anti-Semitic posts

The news came on the heels of the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trending on Twitter in February as fans screen-grabbed the star's deleted posts, including an anti-Semitic Instagram story that she shared from another user that equivocated the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust to a disagreement over beliefs: "How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?" the meme read.

The Twitter user who shared Carano's deleted post asked, "Did she just compare the Holocaust to being a Republican?"

Another user added "this Gina Carano nonsense not only confirms that anti-Semitism is alive and well, but also that so many people continue to believe Jews to be somehow complicit in their own genocide."

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz came to Carano's defense on Twitter Thursday, calling out Disney's decision.

"Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the Star Wars universe: not a princess, not a victim, not some emotionally tortured Jedi," Cruz tweeted. "She played a woman who kicked ass & who girls looked up to. She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course Disney canceled her."

Carano was a frequent guest star on "The Mandalorian" since the first season, with Dune often helping the title character (played by Pedro Pascal) on his mission to keep Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) safe from Imperial forces hunting the tiny alien creature.

Pascal, whose sister recently came out as a trans woman, assisted Carano last fall after she mocked people putting gender pronouns in their social bios by adding "boop/bop/beep" to her Twitter profile.

Carano said her co-star helped her understand why they were important. "I didn't know before but I do now," she wrote on Twitter at the time, adding that she stood against bullying, "especially the most vulnerable."

More: Gina Carano says Disney 'bullied' her after controversial posts: 'I'm going to go down swinging'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-'Mandalorian' star Gina Carano begins filming movie with Daily Wire