Character race changes

"Waikiki, Waimea, Whitewashing, this bullshit, and of course, Jurassic Park"

- Honest Government ad



Race changing in movies and television shows (also known as "whitewashing", "blackwashing", "racebending", etc.) is a controversial practice where actors of a certain race are cast to play characters of a completely different race, with the intent usually bring "diversity", to make the characters more "relatable", for casting a more famous actor, or because the racial profile of the available performers does not contain people of the intended race to be represented (a frequent case in the Japanese media industry and its adaptations of manga and novels that don't take place in Japan). In other cases, this is the result of directors (usually those that have theatre backgrounds) using an approach known as "blind casting" when assembling the cast, where the actors' ability of play the role convincingly is privileged above their physical appearance and they are not deliberately trying to match the race of the character and its performer unless it is vital for the film plot.

While the idea isn't inherently bad, and has provided with a number of actually good performances that couldn't have been possible otherwise if the cast directors had restricted themselves to cast actors of the same racial profile than the characters, the problem is that most of these cases shown below are obviously only done for the sake of "diversity" (when making a white character be played by a non-white actor) or for "relatability" or "wide appeal" (when non-white/racially ambiguous protagonists are interpreted by white actors), each one with its own racist unfortunate implications.

Don't confuse this situation with the old practices of "blackface" and "yellowface", where white actors interpreted characters of different ethnicities under heavy makeup and with visual and characterizations choices that were actually offensive caricatures of said ethnicities.

Examples (Movies)

 * Annie (2014) - Annie, who is Irish-American, and Daddy Warbucks (Stacks), who is a white Brit, are black. Although it can be excusable because Annie from the comics was Irish (who were minorities at the time) and the story takes place in New York.
 * Gods of Egypt - A film loosely based on Egyptian myths, most of the major roles are played by white actors, with actors of Middle Eastern or North African descent relegated to bit parts; the director Alex Proyas later apologized for this.
 * Aloha - Emma Stone plays the role of Alison Ng, who is of partial Chinese and Indigenous Hawaiian descent.
 * 21 - The film about card counting features actors Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Jacob Pitts and Kevin Spacey in the lead roles. The film is based on the true story where a group of Asian American students and their teacher applied card counting to win significantly in gambling. Jeff Ma, who was among the students, said that the controversy was "overblown" and that the important aspect is that a talented actor would portray him. Ma, who is Chinese American, told USA Today, "I would have been a lot more insulted if they had chosen someone who was Japanese or Korean, just to have an Asian playing me."
 * Batman (1989) - Billy Dee Williams plays Harvey Dent/Two-Face, who is white in the comics.
 * Batgirl (2022) - Dominican-American actress Leslie Grace portrays Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, who is white in the comics.
 * Bratz - Spanish-American Nathalia Ramos plays Mexican-American Yasmin Gonzalez, and a white man plays Dylan, who is black.
 * Breakfast at Tiffany's - Mickey Rooney plays Japanese Mr. Yunioshi, in yellowface and a mock accent!
 * 30 Days of Night - In the vampire horror film, actor Josh Hartnett plays Sheriff Eben Oleson in an Alaskan town. The originating comic book mini-series featured the character as Sheriff Eben Olemaun, who is of Inuit descent.
 * The Flash (2022) - Latino-American actress Sasha Calle portrays Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, who resembles a young girl with blonde Northern European features. Her design lazily looked like a gender-swap version of Cal-El/Clark Kent version of Superman. Her suit is also inferior compared to the suit worn by Henry Cavill.
 * The Last Airbender - In M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of the hit Nickelodeon animated series, the main protagonists are played by white actors, with Asian actors relegated to minor roles. On the flip side, the Fire Nation, the Japanese antagonists, are almost entirely played by actors of Indian and Arab descent. This case was particularly bad because two of the protagonists are intended to be of an Inuit-analogue race in universe and they are introduced surrounded by a crew of actual Inuit extras they were supposed to be related to.
 * Speed Racer (2008) - In the film, European-descended actors play characters that are originally Asian in the Japanese manga and anime adaptation. Similarly, the names of the characters, all originally Japanese, are changed in favor of its Western regionalization. However, the character of Taejo Togokahn, played by Korean performer Rain, was created for the film as a homage.
 * Artemis Fowl - In the science fantasy adventure film, pale-skinned actress Lara McDonnell plays Captain Holly Short, who was portrayed in the book series as having "nut-brown skin" of a "coffee complexion" (also described as "dark" and "coffee-colored" in a scene set in a spa in the short story The Seventh Dwarf). The Butler, who is described as Eurasian, is played by Black actor Nonso Anozie.
 * The 33 - In the historical drama based on a true story, Juliette Binoche plays Chilean woman Maria Segovia.
 * Exodus: Gods and Kings - A retelling of the Exodus story, white actors such as Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton play the roles of Hebrew and Egyptian characters, with Arab and African actors playing small parts like thieves and slaves.
 * Pan - A retelling of Peter Pan, white actress Rooney Mara plays Tiger Lily, a character traditionally depicted as being of Indigenous American descent. Meanwhile, black actress Leni Zieglmeier plays Wendy and South Asian actor Adeel Akhtar plays Smee.
 * The Lone Ranger - Johnny Depp plays the role of Tonto, the title character's Native American sidekick (although, to be fair, Depp is partially of Cherokee descent).
 * The Castle of Fu Manchu - British actor Christopher Lee plays the title character, who is Chinese.
 * The Conqueror - John Wayne plays the role of Genghis Khan.
 * Dragonball: Evolution - The role of Son Goku, a character traditionally seen as Asian (although originally an alien), is played by white Canadian actor Justin Chatwin.
 * Death Note - The protagonist was renamed from Light Yagami to Light Turner and the setting was changed from Tokyo to Seattle. Even L Lawliet, who is 3-quarters Caucasian & 1-quarter Japanese in the original manga and anime, is played by black actor Lakeith Stanfield. In addition to this, they even had the gall to change all the Japanese names to English names except Ryuk. So a demon/spirit can have a Japanese name, but not the people? Suspicious.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Deadpool 2 - African-American actress, Zazie Baetz portrays Domino, who is white. (Which would have been forgivable if she looked like her comic book counterpart with the makeup). While New Zealand actors, Julian Dennison and Sala Baker portray Russell "Rusty" Collins/Firefist, who is white born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 * Daredevil (2003) - African American actor, Michael Clarke Duncan plays Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, who is generally depicted in the source material as white.
 * Ghost in the Shell (2017) - Scarlett Johansson plays Major Motoko Kusanagi, who is generally depicted in the source material as Japanese.
 * Many people use the excuse that she's a robot, and the original creator said that Motoko wasn't designed to specifically be Japanese, but that holds little merit because if that was so he wouldn't have given her a Japanese name.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Annihilation - Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, both of whom are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, play characters who, in the original novel the film was adapted from, are of Asian and half-Native American descent, respectively.
 * Jem and the Holograms - Italian-American Roxy and British Jetta are played by Korean-American Hana Mae Lee and Mexican Eiza Gonzalez, respectively. Gonzalez doesn't even try to give Jetta a British accent, so we have a Korean girl and Mexican named Roxanne Pellegrini and Sheila Burns. Not convincing at all. On the opposite end, Rio Pacheco, who was depicted as Brazilian-American in the original cartoon, was whitewashed not only by casting a white actor, but also making him the son of white Erica Raymond.
 * I Spy (2002) - Alex Scott, who was African-American in the original series, was played by Owen Wilson, a white actor. Kelly Robinson, a white character also in the series, was played by Eddie Murphy, an African-American.
 * The King and I - Most of the Thai characters are played by white people (such as the King, played by a Russian man) with the exception of one of the wives, played by Rita Moreno.
 * Perhaps no one changes character races more than Netflix, in lots of movies and shows they change certain important characters into black people, this wouldn't be a problem at all if the characters were original or black in their source origins.
 * Warm Bodies - White American actress Analeigh Tipton plays Nora, who is depicted in the original book as half-Ethiopian.
 * Argo - In the political thriller film based on a true story, White American actor Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA technical operations officer of Mexican descent.


 * Star Trek Into Darkness - In the science-fiction film, actor Benedict Cumberbatch plays the villain Khan Noonien Singh, who is of Indian descent. In his previous cinematic and television appearances (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and "Space Seed"), the character was portrayed by Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican actor of European descent.


 * James Bond
 * mh:greatestmovies: Dr. No - the titular main villain Julius No, a half-German half-Chinese scientist, is played by Jewish-Canadian actor Joseph Wiseman, while Miss Taro, another character of Asian descent, is played by white British actress Zena Marshall.
 * In the Daniel Craig films, Felix Leiter, who has always been white (in the novels, he's described as a blonde-haired Texan), is played by the African-American Jeffrey Wright. He had also been played by another African-American actor, Bernie Casey in 1983's Never Say Never Again, though that movie is considered non-canonical to the rest of the Bond series.
 * Craig's version of Miss Moneypenny, Eve, is played by the black Afrio-Caribbean Naomie Harris.


 * Venom (2018) - The film's main antagonist Carlton Drake, who is Caucasian in the comics, is played by British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed.
 * Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Black English actress, Naomie Harris portrays the villainess, Shriek, who is white.
 * mh:greatestmovies: The Social Network - Biracial English actor Max Minghella plays the ConnectU co-founder Divya Narendra, who is of Indian descent.
 * mh:greatestmovies: The Martian (2015) - In the science fiction film based on the 2011 novel, actress Mackenzie Davis plays Mission Control satellite planner Mindy Park. Another character from the book, Venkat Kapoor, who is of Hindu descent, also became Vincent Kapoor in the film and is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a British actor of Nigerian descent.
 * Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2: Latina Hadley was accidentally whitewashed, as the more washed out colors which lightened almost every character and even the backgrounds, minus the undersea scenes, heavily removed her tan in daytime scenes.
 * Black Butler (2014) - Most of the characters who are British in the original work are played by mostly Japanese actors, with Caucasian actors playing minor roles.
 * The Little Mermaid (upcoming) - In the remake of the Disney adaptation of a Danish fairy tale, the red-haired Ariel is replaced by black actress Halle Bailey.
 * Attack on Titan: Parts 1 and 2 - In the 2-part Japanese live-action film adaptation of the hit manga & anime of the same name, all of the characters (excluding Mikasa Ackerman) are played by an all Japanese cast when most of the characters in the original story are of White Caucasian descent.
 * Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) - In the Japanese film adaptation of the anime, the entire European cast is played by mostly Japanese actors, notably actor Ryosuke Yamada portraying the main protagonist Edward Elric, who in the source material is a Caucasian European with Persian ancestry.
 * In the upcoming 2-part sequel Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Chapter- The Avenging Scar, Mackenyu Arata plays the Ishvalan Scar, whose Ishvalan ethnicity in the source material is implied to be of Indo-Arabic Muslim descent (Romani in the 2003 anime), in brownface.
 * The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Max Dillon/Electro, depicted as a white redhead in the comics, is turned into an African-American, played by Jamie Foxx.
 * Jigoku Shoujo (2020) - Japanese-American actress Tina Tamashiro plays the titular antagonist Enma Ai, who is a pureblood Japanese of Ainu ancestry in the original anime.
 * The Promised Neverland (2020) - Japanese actors play the entire cast who are all white Caucasian Europeans, with Japanese-Taiwanese actress Naomi Watanabe playing Krone, who is African-American in the original work.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Marvel Cinematic Universe:
 * In mh:greatestmovies: Doctor Strange, the Ancient One is depicted as Celtic rather than Tibetan, which resulted in controversy, though Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige explained that "I think if you look at some of the early incarnations of the Ancient One in the comics, they are what we would consider today to be quite, sort of, stereotypical. They don't hold up to what would work today."
 * Another reason for this race change is the fact that a depiction of Tibetan priest would have conflicted with the film's release in China as Tibet's occupation in that country has been a controversial subject.
 * Speaking of Doctor Strange, Karl Mordo was a white Romanian man in the comics, but is played by the black and English Chiwetel Ejiofor.
 * Another example is in the Thor films, where the character of Heimdall is depicted as black rather than white. Idris Elba himself commented on how this race change was fine, compared to Ben Kingsley as Gandhi (even though Kingsley is of Indian descent) and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra (even though Cleopatra was ethnically Greek).
 * Nick Fury (traditionally a white man) is portrayed by African-American actor Samuel L. Jackson, though this depiction is based on Fury's incarnation in the Ultimate Marvel comics line, where he was reimagined as an African-American resembling Jackson.
 * The character of Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson, who is based on Spider-Man's red-haired love interest Mary Jane Watson, is played by biracial actress Zendaya.
 * Flash Thompson, who is traditionally white, is portrayed by Tony Revolori, an actor of Guatemalan descent.
 * Liz Allen, who is traditionally white, is portrayed by Laura Harrier, who is of African-American descent.
 * mh:besttvshows: Daredevil (2015) - Ben Urich, who is white in the comics, is portrayed by African American actor, Vondie Curtis-Hall.
 * Jessica Jones: Malcolm Duress is played by the black Eka Darville, who was white in the comics.
 * Valkyrie, who is a white blonde in the comics, is portrayed by the black Tessa Thompson.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Ant-Man and the Wasp - Ghost was a white man in the comics and is played by the biracial Hanna John-Kamen.
 * Agents of SHIELD - Jasper Sitwel, a blonde white guy in the comics, is played by bald Latino actor Maximiliano Hernández; Daisy Johnson/Quake is Anglo in the comics, but is Chinese-American in the series; Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie is a white Texan in the comics, but in the show he's played by African-American actor Henry Simmons; Agent 33 is a white blonde in the comics, but in the show she's played by Maya Stojan, who is half-Sri Lankan and half-Czech.
 * Agent Carter - Happy Sam Sawyer, a white guy in the comics, was played by African-American Leonard Roberts.
 * Eternals - Sersi, who was originally depicted as as Caucasian woman in the comics, is played by Gemma Chan; Makkari, who was originally depicted as a fair-skinned man is played by the Afro-Latina Lauren Ridloff; Kingo, who was originally depicted as Japanese is played by Pakistan Kumail Nanjiami; and Gilgamesh, who is depicted as a fair-skinned man is played by the Korean Don Lee.
 * Loki: Princess Ravonna, a white woman in the comics, is played by Gugu Mbatha Raw, who is the daughter of a Black South African father and an English mother.
 * X-Men films:
 * X-Men: The Last Stand - Bolivar Trask, a white man in the comics, was played by the African-American Bill Duke.
 * X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Agent Zero, a white man of East German descent in the comics, is played by Korean actor Daniel Henney.
 * mh:greatestmovies: X-Men: Days of Future Past: Blink, a white Bahamanian in the comics, is played by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing
 * The New Mutants - Henry Zaga, a white Brazilian actor of predominantly Italian descent, plays Sunspot (real name: Roberto da Costa), who was Afro-Brazilian in the original comics. Alice Braga, another white Brazilian, plays Cecilia Reyes, who was Afro-Puerto Rican in the original comics.
 * A Wrinkle in Time (2018) - Meg, who is white in the book, is black in this movie.
 * Fantastic Four (2015) - Michael B. Jordan's casting as the Human Torch led to controversy, especially considering how his sister, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman is still played by a white actress with their father, Franklin, also played by an African American actor, Reg E. Cathey.
 * Carrie (2002) - Sue Snell (who is usually depicted as Caucasian) is played by a black actress, Kandyse McClure.
 * The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Ford Prefect, who is an alien with the appearance of a white Englishman, is played by the African-American Mos Def. Meanwhile, Trillian, who is described in the book as "dark-skinned and vaguely Arabic" is played by Zooey Deschanel. In the television version, she was played by the blonde American Sandra Dickinson.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Drive - Irene was a Hispanic woman named Irina in the novel. In the film, she's played by Carey Mulligan.
 * Hellboy (2019) - Alice Monaghan was a white red-haired Irish woman in the comics; in the film, she's a British woman portrayed by African-American actress Sasha Lane.
 * Max Payne - Jim Brauvera, a middle-aged white man in the games, is played by the rapper Ludacris in the film.
 * The Bonfire of the Vanities - in the novel, Judge Leonard White was a white Jewish man. In the film, he's played by Morgan Freeman to counter criticisms that the book was racist due to the absence of positive black characters (ignoring the fact that everyone in the story is amoral and self-serving).
 * Much Ado About Nothing - Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaptation inexplicably cast Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, with Keanu Reeves as his half-brother Don John.
 * Robin Hood (2010) - The English King John I is played by the Guatemalan-American Oscar Isaac.
 * Robin Hood (2018) - Jamie Foxx was cast as Little John.
 * Wild Wild West - Will Smith stars as Jim West, who was played by Robert Conrad in the original television series, while Kenneth Branagh plays Doctor Loveless, who was a Spanish dwarf in the series.
 * West Side Story - Most of the Latino characters are played by white people in brownface and fake tans.
 * Spawn - Terry Fitzgerald, Al Simmons' best friend before his death, is black in the comics. In the film, he is white, portrayed by D. B. Sweeney. Todd McFarlane explained that this change was made by the studio to avoid having too many black leads, as they believed this would give a false impression that the film's target audience was the African American demographic.
 * Fantastic Four (2005) - The Thing's girlfriend, Alicia Masters, a white blonde in the comics, was played by African-American actress, Kerry Washington.
 * Little Buddha - Keanu Reeves stars as Buddha.
 * Jackie Brown - In the source novel Rum Punch, the main character was white. In the film, she's played by Pam Grier.
 * DC Extended Universe
 * Perry White, who as the name suggests has always been white, is played by African American actor, Laurence Fishburne.
 * Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Mercy Graves, who is traditionally depicted as a white blonde woman, is played by the Japanese actress, Tao Okamoto.
 * Suicide Squad - African American actor, Will Smith plays Deadshot, who is white in the comics.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Wonder Woman (2017) - Artemis, a white, redheaded woman in the comic, is played by Ann Wolfe, who is African American.
 * Birds of Prey - Black Canary, typically depicted as white and blond in the comics, is played by Jurnee Smollett, who is of mixed African-American and Polish-Jewish descent. Meanwhile, Renee Montoya is played by Afro-Latina Rosie Perez.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Zack Snyder's Justice League - Iris West, a white redhead in the Flash comics, is played by African American actress, Kiersey Clemons.
 * The Great Gatsby (2013) - Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan plays Meyer Wolfsheim, who was Jewish in the novel.
 * Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White—Another Bite @ the Apple - Little Red Riding Hood, a Caucasian/German girl voiced by Kath Soucie from the original film, was changed to a Mexican/Latina, brown haired teenager played by G.K. Bowes.
 * Kim Possible (2019) - Singaporean-Canadian actress Erica Tham plays Bonnie Rockwaller, who is of European descent. She just has a tan.
 * Mary Queen of Scots - in this 2018 historical drama, Gemma Chan plays Bess of Hardwick, while black actor Adrian Lester plays Lord Randolph, the Queen's Ambassador to Scotland. Director Josie Rourke explained that she didn't want to make an all-white period drama.
 * Cruella - Both black actresses Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Florisa Kamara play as Anita Darling: Estella's childhood friend, who was originally white in both the The Hundred and One Dalmatians novel and the Disney animated classic.
 * Mortal Kombat (2021) - Mileena, depicted as white & later Asian, in the video games, is turned into a black Australian played by Sisi Stringer.
 * Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (upcoming) - Colombian-Polish Rachel Zegler (who has said some anti-white comments despite working with white people and being of Slavic descent) is going to play German Snow White.
 * Monster High (upcoming) - In this live action adaptation of the popular Mattel franchise, black actress Marci T. House will play British Headmistress Bloodgood, Latina Lina Lecompte will play Australian Lagoona Blue, Indian and Filipino actresses Nayah Damasen and Nasiv Sall will play Romanian Draculaura and Russian Abbey Bominable, erasing representation for many Slavic fans. In addition to this, transgender actor Ceci Balagot will play non-trans Frankie Stein. Even though they already have three Latina characters (Skelita Calaveras, Marisol Coxi, and Batsy Claro), several other black characters (like Honey Swamp) and one trans character (Gilda Goldstag). It actually gets worse, because some clips have been released and they have made Lagoona not even a Latina Australian, but an actual Colombian transfer student, and also made Draculaura and possibly Abbey Americans as well as POC, which shows blatant Slavophobia (and to top it off, Frankie briefly speaks Tagalog, likely a secret way of mocking the fans who want their Romanian girl to be Romanian).
 * Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) - Passepartout, who is French in the original novel, is played by the Mexican Cantinflas, while Shirley MacLaine played the Indian Princess Auoda.
 * Around the World in 80 Days (2004) - Jackie Chan a Hong Kong actor, plays Passepartout who in the original novel is a Frenchman. Another famous actor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is Austrian plays as a Turkish Prince in this same film.
 * A Loud House Christmas - Texas-born white American, Matt Van Smith plays Bobby Santiago who is Mexican-American with tan skin in the original cartoon and it’s spin-off, the Casagrandes.
 * Nahuel and the Magic Book - Fresia, a brown-skinned Mapuche Machi character, is played by Chilean Muriel Benavides.
 * Cinderella (2021) - Cuban Camila Cabello plays white French Cinderella, and the setting is a multicultural France, but comes off as a failed attempt at copying the 1997 version.
 * Come Away - Peter Liddell and Alice Liddell (Peter Pan is Alice's brother in this film) are portrayed as black.
 * mh:greatestmovies: Out of Sight - Buddy Bragg is a white redneck in the novel. In the film, he's played by Ving Rhames.
 * mh:greatestmovies: The Batman:
 * Selina Kyle (Catwoman) is played by the half black-half Ashkenazi Jewish Zoë Kravitz.
 * Jim Gordon is played by the African-American Jeffrey Wright.
 * Mackenzie Bock, who is traditionally African-American in the comics, is played by the white Con O'Neill.


 * The Tragedy of Macbeth - African-American actors Denzel Washington, Corey Hawkins and Moses Ingram play Macbeth, Macduff and Lady Macduff, roles that are Scottish and traditionally played by white actors.
 * Enola Holmes:
 * Inspector Lestrade is played by the Southa-Asian Adeel Akhtar.
 * Edith, who is implied to be the historical Edith Garrud, is played by the Nigerian-English Susie Wokoma.


 * Pinocchio (2022 live-action film) (upcoming) - The Blue Fairy who is white with blonde hair in the 1940 animated film is being played by Cynthia Erivo who is black.

Examples (TV shows)

 * mh:besttvshows: Tom and Jerry - In the mid-1960s, Chuck Jones from the Looney Tunes fame and his team of animators were tasked to replace the original African-American character Mammy Two-Shoes with a white substitute voiced by June Foray for CBS airings, in response to complaints of racial stereotyping towards African-Americans in the Mammy Two-Shoes character. While in all of her cartoons Mammy is replaced by a similarly stocky white woman, "Saturday Evening Puss" was the only exception where Mammy is replaced by an entirely different character - a white blonde-haired teenage girl. Recent TV airings, as well as home video releases of these cartoons since then, had mostly restored the original "black" version of Mammy Two-Shoes, but this time the character's voice is now redubbed by African-American comedienne Thea Vidale for television airings such as Cartoon Network and Boomerang to censor any potentially offensive Black dialect used in the character's dialogue.
 * mh:besttvshows: Tiny Toon Adventures - An accidental case of whitewashing is in the episode "Looniversity Daze", wherein one scene the African-American character Mary Melody was erroneously colored as a white blonde girl.
 * Oliver Twist (2007) - In this adaptation, Nancy is played by black actress Sophie Okonedo.
 * Supergirl (2016) - Changed Jimmy Olsen, generally depicted as a red-haired European, into a black character played by Mehcad Brooks. Changed Manchester Black, generally depicted as purple-haired British, into a black English character played by David Ajala. Changed Hank Henshaw/ Cyborg Superman, generally depicted as white, into a black British character played by David Harewood.
 * Krypton (2018) - Changed General Zod, generally depicted as white into a black British character played by Colin Salmon.
 * Harley Quinn - The Queen of Fables and Catwoman were originally white are changed into African Americans.
 * Gotham - BD Wong, an American actor of Chinese descent, plays Professor Hugo Strange who is more of British descent and drawn as white very often.
 * Merlin - Multiracial actress Angel Coulby was cast as Guinevere, who tends to be interpreted as white (or at least the same ethnicity of whoever plays King Arthur), while the Chilean-born Santiago Cabrera plays Lancelot.
 * Robin Hood - David Harewood was cast as "Brother" Tuck.
 * mh:terribleshows: Wonder Woman (2011) - Etta Candy, who was of European descent in the comics, was played by the African-American Tracie Thomas.
 * Anne Boleyn - In this Channel 5 series, black actress Jodie Turner-Smith plays Anne Boleyn, with Paapa Essiedu as her brother.
 * Battlestar Galactica (2003) - Changed Athena and Boomer, who in the original 1970s series were respectively a white woman (played by Maren Jensen) and an African-American man (played by Herb Jefferson Jr) into Asian-American women, both played by Grace Park.
 * Velma (upcoming) - Indian Mindy Kaling wants German-American Jew Velma Dinkley to be Indian, like her. Also, Kaling is an idiot because despite her being Indian, she says that they are East Asian and often refers to an "East Asian Velma" when Indians are South Asians, as an Indian she should know basic geography.
 * Fate: The Winx Saga - Chinese-born Italian Musa is played by Irish Jew Elisha Applebaum, and Eliot Salt plays Terra, the replacement of Latina Flora. Though Flora is appearing in season 2, played by a Latina. Though this doesn't make up for Musa.
 * People spread a false rumor that Elisha Applebaum was part Singaporean, and many people believed (and still do) it. It was debunked by records showing that she is of Jewish, Middle Eastern, Hungarian, Serbian, Albanian and French descent.
 * The Witcher - Several characters in this adaptation of a book set in medieval Poland are now POC.
 * mh:besttvshows:She-Ra and the Princesses of Power- French Mermista was changed to Indian, white Frosta was changed to Inuit, white American Glimmer and white British Castaspella were made Korean, white Bow was made black.
 * Though the original show had Netossa as the only POC.
 * mh:besttvshows:Polly Pocket (2010) - Crissy Maxwell, who was originally white, was changed to Latina, then Asian.
 * Bates Motel - Marion Crane who was originally white, was changed to a black singer/actress played by Rihanna.
 * The Flash (2014) - Changed Iris West, generally depicted as a brown-haired Caucasian into a black character played by Candice Patton (which another African-American actress, Kiersey Clemons would portray in Justice League) Changed Wally West, generally depicted as a red-haired Caucasian, into a black character played by Keiynan Lonsdale, although this is based on his appearance in the New 52 comics. Changed Girder, generally depicted as an African American, into a white character played by Greg Finley. Changed Bart Allen/Impulse, generally depicted as a brown hair American, into a black character played by Jordan Fisher.
 * Titans (2018) - Changed Starfire, Blackfire and her Tamaranian species, generally depicted as orange-skinned aliens with Asian features, into black people with Starfire played by Anna Diop and Blackfire played by Damaris Lewis. Changed Garfield Logan/Beast Boy, generally depicted as white then green-skinned, into half-Japanese played by Ryan Potter. Changed Tim Drake, generally depicted as a white American, into an African American played by Jay Lycurgo. Changed Rose and Joe Wilson generally depicted as a white American into an American-Chinese played by actress Chelsea Zhang and Chella Man.
 * The Irregulars - in this Sherlock Holmes series, the black Royce Pierreson plays Doctor Watson.
 * A Christmas Carol (2019) - in this BBC adaptation, Mrs. Cratchit was played by black actress Vinette Robinson when most adaptations portray her as white.
 * DC Superhero Girls - Similar to Monster High, most of the characters race have been changed.
 * mh:terrbileshows: Cowboy Bebop - The Netflix live-action remake changed Faye Valentine from Singaporean to Latina.
 * Around the World in Eighty Days (2021) - In this BBC adaptation, Passepartout is played by the black actor Ibrahim Koma.
 * Buddy Thunderstruck- In the live-action ending of the episode, Moneybags and his Monster, additional crew member, Chester Lee who is white American plays Live-Action Tex Jr who is an brown-colored warthog speaking in an African-American accent.
 * mh:besttvshows:Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - April O' Neil, who was originally white, was changed to black African-American.
 * Altered Carbon - Hungarian-Japanese character Takeshi Kovacs was portrayed as a black man for part of the series. Similarly to Jem, his name is so obviously not African or even English!
 * Bridgerton - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is played by the Guyanese-British Golda Roshevuel. This is based on the theory that Queen Charlotte might have been mixed-race, which has been called into question.
 * Wednesday (upcoming) - In this Addams Family spinoff, Latina Jenna Ortega is playing Wednesday Addams.
 * Percy Jackson & the Olympians (upcoming) - Changed Annabeth Chase, who is white with blonde hair in the novels, to an African-American played by Leah Sava Jeffries.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) This practice is usually used more like an excuse for bad castings because the creators, producers & directors purposely didn’t think about how the audience would react to it or just ignorantly racist.
 * 2) This practice frequently causes controversy, no matter the direction of the changes. If the character is a non-white changed to white or a different type of non-white, people will complain about invisibilization of the character's original ethnicity; if the characters is white (or ambiguous enough to be interpreted as white) and then is interpreted by a non-white actor, accusations of pandering will always result even in the cases where the change is justified.
 * 3) This is very often done out of star power, as most of them are basically celebrities that everyone knows of wanting to do a main character in adaptations of famous works and strong arming producers and casting directors into giving them the role regardless of appropriateness. This is frequently very common in many Japanese live action adaptations of anime, ESPECIALLY THE ONES WITH A WESTERN SETTING.
 * 4) As an addition, most of the audience who is watching the movie/show, not mattering if they’re fans or not, become both frustrated and disappointed seeing one of the character’s being inaccurate to their original source.
 * 5) Anyone who disagrees with the casting (even if they simply want consistency), or calls it lazy, gets blasted by SJWs, and brainwashed people who call them "bigoted" or "racist", and use the same old excuses ("white people are the majority", "[race]-washing doesn't exist", "you don't get it", "the influence is not the same", and other nonsense), showing they can't handle criticism, they're hypocrites, and they think that POC can't say or do anything wrong, and literally promote anti-white racism that they know exists.
 * 6) In the cases of white-to-PoC changes, this just shows that Hollywood tries to pander towards SJWs, especially towards the modern films.
 * 7) Changing a character's race can be considered insulting by some to said race, as it means that they can't come up with something original for people of that race so we'll steal another character instead.
 * 8) Some actors are racist against white people, or actively mock their audience for speaking out (especially popular with Latinas it seems, such as the actresses for Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda, who mocks the fact that some people didn't like her modest outfit by saying "I'm sorry I don't have large boobs, but she also mentions "not looking like the Faye character from the anime" obviously referencing the anti-Singaporean sentiment and actively enraging many Singaporeans and other Southeast Asians who saw themselves in Faye) and Rachel Zegler, who's hypocrisy of racism has already been mentioned, but also saying that she "won't bleach her skin" for Snow White and that there "are Latinas in Germany").

Good Qualities

 * 1) Despite the character being of a different race, their performance is usually done well.
 * 2) Sometimes, the character will be of a similar ethnicity, thus, they can be considered good-to-average.
 * 3) * This also means makes the character more relatable, thus, it makes the audience more interested than frustrated and disappointed.
 * 4) * Also, less controversy is summed up, as most audiences won’t care if the character is the exact same race.
 * 5) It can be excusable if they represented the race fine or if the race didn't impact the story all that much.
 * 6) It can also be excusable if the racial change is done for cultural translation (if the original work features an oppressed minority that to modern eyes isn't perceived as such) or for artistic reasons (like changing or inverting the racial markup of all the cast and not just some roles).
 * 7) This practice can be sometimes understandable if done to make new and underrated actors into the spotlight.
 * 8) Some racebends are done well, such as the 1997 Cinderella (Black Cinderella, queen, and stepsister, Asian Prince Charming), Nick Fury in the MCU,  Hayley Kiyoko (Japanese) as German-American Jew Velma Dinkley in some of the live action Scooby Doo movies, Kenichi Matsuyama as Caucasian European L Lawliet with Shunji Fujimura as L's British butler Watari in the Japanese live action Death Note film series, Audra McDonald as Grace Farrel in the 1999 Annie, Mary Anne Spier becoming mixed German and black in the 2020 Baby-Sitters Club, American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success (Grace goes from white French-American to mixed French and Filipina-American, played by Olivia Rodrigo), Eve in Killing Eve (white Brit to Korean Brit), and the To All the Boys trilogy (Lara Jean being Korean-American the books now being more explicit for her Korean actress). It can also be done well in animated films such as The Princess and the Frog (medieval Germany to 1920s New Orleans, thus Tiana is black), Nahuel y el Libro Mágico (Fresia voiced by a White Chilean), Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (Snow White, her father, and Merlin (the Prince's counterpart) are Korean), Big Hero 6 (Gogo Tomago became Korean, Honey Lemon became Latina, Fred became white and, Wasabi became black, when the comic versions were all Japanese), and the cartoon series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, which racebends most stories.
 * 9) There are PoC and white people who refuse to bow to the SJWs and are willing to listen and recognize laziness, pandering and double standards. They're in the minority though.
 * 10) The Japanese live-actions of anime cast Japanese people as white characters due to their fairly monoracial population, and they don't whitewash unlike pretty much any remake that is made in America, but this is still not an excuse for their live action adaptations of manga & anime of Western setting.