Why is this even a discussion? What harm comes from wanting to inject a little bit of diversity into a fantasy story? You don't know how it'll affect the story, you can't know for sure what their plan is until it's made clear, I've read that the author of the books is fine with it, and there's nothing wrong with diversity.
You can go on and on and on about how she was described as white in the books or how Ciri was portrayed as white in the games, but that doesn't mean that's literally the only way she can be portrayed or described. I agree with some of the other users here that if she's not based on a real person or her skin tone isn't relevant to the plot it shouldn't matter. Like, at all. We don't know if her people are all going to be people of color, we don't know if her change in skin tone is going to be a plot point, and we don't know what the reasoning is behind the decision to not go with a white actress for the role.
And you know what? Even if it IS just to inject diversity or just to give a minority a more prominent role, I don't see how that's a bad thing. I get that some people are incredibly insecure and hate the idea that change might happen that isn't in their favour, but the perceived slight against white people because a once-white character is being portrayed as not-white is kind of sad and pathetic.
Whine about the SJW agenda, Whine about the loss for white roles, whine about the politics, or whine about the forced diversity all you want. If you actually cared about The Witcher and its story, you'd wait to see how it turns out before making a judgment. Whining about a white role being played by a non-white actor before knowing or understand the context behind the decision shows you don't actually care about the material, you just want an excuse to push your agenda or bitch about 'the libs' or whatever.
Adaptations will make changes to the source material. That's the reason we have adaptations. I could go to the previously discussed Heimdall example or the Ancient One - both of which were given a new ethnicity and both of which were played perfectly by their black and caucasian actors - but I'd like to use a more subtle example of something being changed. Thanos. In the comics he had the hots for death and wanted to kill people to appease death. In the movie, he wanted to cut half of the universe's life to ensure that there was enough food and resources to go around. I've yet to see a single person say that the movie Thanos was thematically inferior to comic Thanos. That adaptation made significant changes to the character's motivations and that made the movie arguably better.
Civil War went from an all-out war to a more intimate story and I think the themes present in Captain America: Civil War were far better realized in the movie than the comic.
Spider-Man got his high tech suit from tony Stark instead of making it himself, which makes a lot more sense to me than a poor kid managing a perfectly fit unitard.
The Joker in The Dark Knight cared more about chaos and showing how all a person needed was the right push to throw order out the window, which was notably different from the many prior adaptations wherein he was mostly doing it for fun and to fuck with Batman.
and then there's Heimdall, who was regularly one of the best parts of Thor despite the rest of that culture being pretty damn pasty. and there's The ancient One, who was one of the best parts of doctor Strange despite being the only person in a heavily asian part of the world.
The point is, Adaptations almost never remain 100% faithful to the original. Themes change. The world changes. Even super-faithful stuff like Watchmen make changes to the plot that frankly made more sense than the original. Hell, even comics and movies and TV shows retcon themselves or make AU renditions of their own lore over time. Making changes to a piece of art is part of the process. If you honestly think that deliberately giving a once-white character a non-white portrayal is somehow an insult to the source material, then you're completely missing the point.
If you have a problem with an adaptation not being a 100% accurate recreation of its source material, then that's on you, not the creators. If you are upset at a casting decision before you even know the rationale behind the casting or the decision, then that's your problem, not the creators. If you care more about the color of their skin than the quality of the end result, you miiiiight be racist. you know, by definition.
And if you have a problem with 'the SJW agenda', then you might want to take a step back and reevaluate what's important in this world, because you're completely missing the point.
I really wish I didn't have to explain this.
And I really hate that I know that there's absolutely zero chance that I'll change anyone's mind despite being 100% correct. Well, 95% correct. I'm not sure I agree with the idea that they should exclusively seek non-white actors for the role, but at the same time I have no idea what the intention is, be it just for forced diversity or if it'll be thematic somehow. I will wait and see the end result before deciding. You should, too.
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