In the latest setback for Disney, a federal judge yesterday ordered Disney to produce the salary and compensation information for many of the main actors in Disney’s Star Wars television shows.
Why Does Gina Carano Want to Know the Salaries of the Other Star Wars Actors?
Carano seeks such information as a basis for her damages claims, along with copies of their contracts. In essence, she argues that the harm caused by Disney by firing her for her political beliefs was at least in part monetary. She lost out on wages and compensation she would have earned had Disney not fired her. Based on her discovery requests, she’s arguing that she can use the compensation/wages information for the other lead actors in The Mandalorian and the other Star Wars shows like Andor, The Acolyte, and Ahsoka as a point of comparison. How much did those actors of comparable status get paid? Then that’s how much she would have been paid. Thus, those missed-out salaries would be her damages as a result of Disney’s actions.
However, Carano was not the lead actor on The Mandalorian. She was in several episodes each season, but she was still primarily a supporting character. Probably the more realistic comparison would be with Carl Weathers, the other main supporting character in The Mandalorian, which is why Carano also requested Weathers’ contract and compensation information. Carano herself took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to post about the latest filing.
How Many Documents has Disney Produced So Far in Discovery?
I wrote last month about Disney and Carano’s discovery efforts thus far. [Read More: In Gina Carano v. Disney, Parties Seek More Time Before Trial] At that point, we didn’t know exactly how many documents had been exchanged or what level of conflict had arisen with specific discovery requests, but we do now. Based on the parties’ joint filing on April 2, 2025 [read here for the full document], we now know that Disney has produced over 50,000 pages of documents, while Carano has produced 10,000 pages. These likely include numerous emails, text messages, internal communications, company documents, and financial information.
The lawyers have also engaged in extensive disputes over what documents should be produced by Disney, based on the numerous letters and conference calls that the parties have engaged in over the last six months. These levels of discovery disputes are pretty common. Companies can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees arguing over what documents should be produced. This type of legal wrangling will continue through the case.
What Was Disney Ordered to Produce?
After reviewing the parties’ arguments, the federal judge ultimately sided with Carano in part [read the full order here], with Disney ordered to produce a spreadsheet that listed the compensation of “Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, and Carl Weathers in (as applicable) Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of The Mandalorian; for Rosario Dawson in The Book of Boba Fett and Seasons 1 and 2 of Ahsoka; for Amandla Stenberg in The Acolyte; and for Diego Luna in Seasons 1 and 2 of Andor.” The judge also ordered Disney to produce Carl Weathers’ contract in full, a spreadsheet of compensation for supporting actors in those shows, and information about how all the actors have been compensated through the present day for those shows.
It’s unlikely the public will see any of these documents or this information any time soon, if at all. The judge allowed the documents to be produced under an “attorney’s eyes only” designation, which means that Disney will seek to keep such information under seal throughout this litigation. Regardless, Disney has 20 days to produce the documents to Carano’s attorneys.
What’s Next?
Once Disney produces the information ordered by the judge, there still could be some squabbling about whether Disney fully complied with the order. But when that resolves, the parties move into the deposition stage. Carano has already indicated in prior court filings that she plans to depose Pedro Pascal, Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, and Bear Grylls [Read more: Din Djarin May Be Called to Testify in Carano v. Disney Lawsuit]. Many more depositions are likely to be taken by the parties as well. I suspect that the depositions will be video recorded, and we may even see some of the excerpts when parties file additional motions as the case marches toward trial.
I’ll continue to track this case, a rare intersection of employment law and Star Wars, which I’ve spent my career documenting. You can read my other efforts here:
#R2MeToo: Anakin’s Sexual Harassment of Padme Amidala
Let’s Analyze Luke Skywalker’s Employment Claims After Darth Vader Chops That Hand Off
