History RaceLift / ChangingTheMajority

* In ''Film/MadameWeb2024'', Mattie Franklin is played by black actress Celeste O'Connor while Ezekiel Sims is played by Tahar Rahim, an actor of Algerian descent. Both are white in the comics.

** The Earth-7 version of the Thunderer is Aboriginal. Which actually makes sense, since Wandjina (DC's original CaptainErsatz of Comicbook/TheMightyThor, which the character is based on) was named after an Aboriginal spirit. Or it would if he was still called Wandjina, anyway. (Earth-8's Wundajin, meanwhile, is still white.)

** ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Iris West and her younger brother [[ComicBook/WallyWest Wally]] are black. In the [[Franchise/TheFlash source comics]] they are aunt and nephew, and Iris is white; Wally was originally white as well before being changed to half-black half-white in the New 52 reboot.

* Series/{{Arrowverse}}:

** ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'': Mary Hamilton, the show's adaptation of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Bette Kane]], was Caucasian in the comics, but of East Asian descent here.
** ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': Iris West and her younger brother [[ComicBook/WallyWest Wally]] are black. In the [[Franchise/TheFlash source comics]] they are aunt and nephew, and Iris is white; Wally was originally white as well before being changed to half-black half-white in the New 52 reboot.
** ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'':
*** ComicBook/JimmyOlsen is portrayed as a bald black man instead of the gangly white redhead he normally is. He also received an AgeLift, with an extra dose of AdaptationalAttractiveness.

* ''Ganota no Onna'' is a bizarre comedy that takes the cast of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and re-imagines them as part of a Japanese corporate struggle in the present day. The heroine, Utsuki Ganota, is a race-swapped and GenderFlipped version of Char Aznable, the White antagonist of the original series. Other characters who are both race-swapped and gender-flipped are Sayla Mass ("Seiya Ganota") and Bright Noa ("Noa Furuido").

* ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'': Mary Hamilton, the show's adaptation of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Bette Kane]], was Caucasian in the comics, but of East Asian descent here.

** ''Series/{{Batwoman|2019}}'': Mary Hamilton, the show's adaptation of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Bette Kane]], was Caucasian in the comics, but of East Asian descent here.

* ''Series/TrueLies2023'': Helen in the series is played by biracial (Dutch/Filipina) actress Creator/GingerGonzaga. Of course her kids with Harry are also thus mixed, and look far more like her.

* In ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'', Molly Blyndeff, who was white in her [[Roleplay/AnimeCampaign original appearance]], is now half-white and half-black (or half-Taiga Race and half-Deepwoods Race, in canonical terms). According to the [[Creator/BrendanBlaber creator]], this change was made because of the underrepresentation of black and biracial women in protagonist roles.

* Daisy from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' was a dark-skinned redhead when she was revived during the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 era. When she reappeared in ''VideoGame/MarioParty4'' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoGamecube she was returned to her original, lighter skin tone but received BoyishShortHair (at least short compared to Peach).
* Mac in the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' was lighter skinned than he is in the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} ContinuityReboot. His background is the same as he's implied to be Italian-American in both versions.

* The twins in the ''Literature/{{Twitches}}'' books are white, but the Disney Channel Original Movie cast the biracial twins Tia and Tamera Mowry of ''Series/SisterSister'' fame. This may be mere [[PragmaticAdaptation pragmatic casting]]: if you need identical twins, there's only a few with proven acting experience, moreso if you need a certain age (or [[DawsonCasting at least look like it]]), and the Mowrys were already friendly with Disney.

* In the TV adaptation of ''[[Literature/TheGirlsSeries Girls in Love]]'' by Creator/JacquelineWilson, Magda, originally a white woman, is played by a black actress.
* In the television series based on the ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'' books, white Emily is changed to an AmbiguouslyBrown character (played by Creator/ShayMitchell, who is white/Filipino). This is especially obvious because Emily's parents in the books were racists.
* The short lived 2005 revival of ''Series/{{Kojak}}'' cast Creator/VingRhames in the role. The series seemed more like ''Film/{{Shaft}}'' than ''Series/{{Kojak}}''.

* "[[Recap/SherlockS01E02TheBlindBanker The Blind Banker]]", the second episode of the BBC's ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', used Chinese YellowPeril gangsters as the villains. In the original ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story the episode was based on, the villains were American gangsters from Chicago.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** In the original series, pirate Salladhor Saan, merchant prince Xaro Xhoan Daxos and bodyguard Areo Hotah are changed into emigrants from the Summer Isles and cast with actors of African descent. This was probably done to make them more visibly foreign and to diversify the cast. In the books, all these characters come from cultures with light skin: Xaro is a milky-skinned Qartheen, Salladhor is from Lys (vaguely Southern Europe), and Areo is from Norvos (vaguely Eastern Europe).
** The prequel ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' changes the Velaryons into a black family, although they still have their book counterparts' silver blond hair (a Valyrian trait also shared with the Targaryens). Similarly, Lysenes like Mysaria are descended from the ancient Valyrians, inheriting their white-blond hair, violet eyes, and pale white skin, whereas the TV show changes her into a black-haired, mixed-race woman (played by the half-white half-Japanese Creator/SonoyaMizuno).
* The infamous live-action Toei ''[[Series/SpiderManJapan Spider-Man]]'' TV series was set in Japan and had Peter Parker changed to "Takuya Yamashiro".
* In [[Film/{{Nikita}} the film]] and series ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'', the title character is white. In the 2010 series ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' she is played by Maggie Q, who is of White and Vietnamese descent.
* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'' cast [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0579795/ Peter Mensah]], originally from Ghana, as the Gaulish gladiator Oenomaus. They also cast Manu Bennett, a half-Maori New Zealander, as Crixus, also a Gaul; this was a little less egregious, though. This was partly brought on by RealLifeWritesThePlot, where Maori actors were originally to stand in for the Gauls, as Barca was intended to be Oenomaus. However, his actor was only available for six episodes, so he was killed off and they revealed Doctore to be Oenomaus.

** In the second season, Porthos's full backstory was revealed and turned out to be very clearly inspired by the Dumas family's - Porthos is the son of an aristocrat's affair with a black servant woman, and was brought into the Musketeers by a friend of his father's who felt guilty about helping the father to abandon his black mistress and child.

* An odd example in ''Series/{{Atlanta}}''. A black actor portrays Music/JustinBieber in one episode. Not a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of him, but the actual Justin Bieber.

* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': Dean Fogg, described in the books as white, is black here. Penny, also described as white, is Indian American. Margo (formerly) Janet) was also white in the books. Creator/SummerBishil is of white and Indian descent.
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'':
** Moira Strand is white in the novel. In the show, she is played by the black Creator/SamiraWiley.
** Offred's husband, Luke, and daughter, Hannah, are white like her. In the show, they are portrayed by half-black actors.
** Along with having Handmaids who are women of color, quite a few of the regime's military enforcers are shown to be black men. In the novel, the Gilead regime is officially white supremacist as well as misogynist. Black people (called the "Children of Ham") are [[ReleasedToElsewhere "resettled"]] in North Dakota.
* Parodied in ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' when there's a high school version of ''Film/HighSchoolMusical''. London gets cast to play Sharpay because of her resemblance to the original actress...who [[CelebrityParadox plays Maddie in the sitcom]]. Oh and [[DontExplainTheJoke London is Asian by the way]].

* In ''Series/GoodOmens'', two characters (both female) are given race lifts. Pepper goes from a white redhead to a black girl, and Anathema goes from white to a Latina (Adria Arjona is half-Puerto Rican and half-Guatemalan). Also a case of AdaptationalNationality, as Anathema is made American in the show, probably so the actress doesn't try to fake a British accent.
* ''Literature/NOS4A2'': Tabitha, Lou and Maggie are black in the show.
* ''Literature/HighFidelity'': Rob, who's white in every other version, has been reimagined as biracial for the series.
* In ''Literature/LittleFiresEverywhere'', Mia and her daughter Pearl were changed to Black for the Hulu adaptation, adding another layer to the racial tension present in the book. However the author, Celeste Ng, has stated that she originally wanted them to be people of color, but felt that making them Asian-American would be too neat a plot and she didn't think she could properly represent Black characters.
* When the 1989 film ''Film/UncleBuck'' got a TV sitcom adaptation in 2016, the entire family went from white to black. In the film, Buck was played by John Candy, who was white, chubby, and clean shaven. The 2016 series sees Buck played by Mike Epps, who was black, slender, and sported a mustache & beard.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "A Game of Pool", Jesse Cardiff is Hispanic. In the [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E5AGameOfPool original episode]], he is white.
* In TheRemake of ''Series/TheFugitive'', Gerard is now African-American.
* ''Series/TheLetterForTheKing'': All of the characters are white in the book. Here the protagonist Tiuri is from a fictional dark-skinned race (the actor has mixed ancestry) while several others are played by Black or East Asian actors.
* ''Script/{{Powerpuff}}'':
** InUniverse, the SaturdayMorningCartoon based on the characters whitewashed Blossom and Buttercup, who are portrayed by the Asian-American Chloe Bennet and the African-American Yana Perrault.
** Professor Utonium, presented as white in the cartoon (actually [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 the original series]] in our world), is portrayed by the African-American Donald Faison.
%%* Creator/JodieTurnerSmith (African-British actress) is set to portray UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn in an upcoming Channel 5 mini-series.
* ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'':
** Simon Lewis is a white Jew in the books. Here, he is portrayed by Alberto Rosende, a Latino.
** The Lightwoods are now a mixed-race family with Isabelle being played by a Latina-Lebanese actress, although strangely her brothers Alec and Max are still white. Maryse is played by a Latina too. [[spoiler:Depending on if the series follows the book plot of Robert Lightwood having had an affair, this could end up being significant]].
** Luke was white in the books, but is black in the series.
** Camille Belcourt was white in the books, being described as having silvery blonde hair and green eyes. In the series, she is played by a Chinese-Irish actress.
** Magnus was half Dutch and half Indonesian in the books, but is played by a Chinese-American actor in the series.
* ''Series/StationEleven'': The book version of Arthur Leander is unlikely to share his show counterpart's Latino (specifically Mexican) ethnicity, since he's mentioned to be a native of a small town in British Columbia.
* ''Series/{{Hanna}}'': Sophie's dad is of South Asian descent now, so she and her brother become mixed race, as their mom's still White.
* ''Series/TroyFallOfACity'': Achilles, Zeus and Patroklos. They're usually depicted as ethnically Greek, but are portrayed by Black actors in the series.
* ''Series/LincolnRhymeHuntForTheBoneCollector'': Just like the 1999 movie adaptation, Lincoln Rhyme is changed from white to black. This time he's played by Russell Hornsby.
* ''Series/{{Titans|2018}}'':
** Garfield/Beast Boy is fully white in the comics but half-Asian in the show.
** Dawn Granger is white in the comics but portrayed by Creator/MinkaKelly, who is part-Indonesian.
** Like the Arrowverse, Deathstroke receives a race lift, this time into a Latino. His wife, Adeline, is also changed from white to Asian. As a result, both of Deathstroke's children, Jericho and Rose, are half-Asian half-Latino.
* ''Series/JupitersLegacy'': Hutch is White in the comics (or appears so at least-his mother is dark-skinned, though it's unclear [[AmbiguouslyBrown what her race is]]). In the series though he's obviously a man of color, played by a mixed race actor.
* When CBS announced that a pilot for an adult ''Franchise/NancyDrew'' series was in development in January 2016, they initially said that they were specifically trying to cast a minority actress in the title role. They ultimately cast Creator/SarahShahi, who is of largely Iranian descent, and part European Spanish, but her father was portrayed by the white Anthony Edwards. It was never exactly clear if the character was still going to be presented as white, and the pilot was not picked up to series.
* Three years after the above failed pilot, Nancy Drew finally made her way [[Series/NancyDrew2019 back to the small screen]]. Nancy is white, but the series does still diversify the largely monochrome Drew Crew from the books, and even adds a few new wrinkles:
** George is turned from white to Asian, with her last name changed from Fayne to Fan.
** Bess is also a white girl turned AmbiguouslyBrown (her actress is British Iranian). She is given the middle name Turani, is no longer related to George, and is now a lesbian as opposed to her straight book counterpart.
** Ned Nickerson, who is white in the books, is black in the series. Usually portrayed as Nancy's boyfriend, the TV version is her ex instead, and also prefers to go by "Nick" instead of Ned.
** Literature/TheBobbseyTwins, Amanda and Gil, are now Indian rather than white.
** Literature/TomSwift, a white straight boy in the books, becomes black and gay.
* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'':
** Former ''Enterprise'' Captain Robert April was introduced as a Caucasian male in the [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries animated series]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS2E6TheCounterClockIncident The Counter Clock Incident]]", and was presented as Caucasian in various works before being portrayed in ''Strange New Worlds'' as a black man played by Adrian Holmes.
** Chief Kyle was also portrayed as Caucasian in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' but is portrayed in ''Strange New Worlds'' by the Canadian-Korean actor André Dae Kim.
** The character of Hansen in the TOS episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]" was a white male portrayed by Garry Walberg. In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E10AQualityOfMercy A Quality of Mercy]]" the character is played by Ali Hassan, who is of Pakistani descent. To explain this the character's name was expanded to Hansen Al-Salah.
* ''Series/RoswellNewMexico'': Several of the characters are changed from White to ethnic/racial minorities.
** Kyle is Latino.
** Alex is half Navaho.
** Maria is now Black.

* ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'':
** Allanon, described as white, is portrayed by part-Maori actor Creator/ManuBennett.
** While Tamlin and Lyria have no book counterparts, in the books people of Leah are described as white. On the show they are played by black actors, along with Garet Jax.
* ''Series/Lucifer2016'':
** In the comics Amenadiel is Caucasian in appearance, long silver-hair dripping off of his Neanderthalish face that only a mother could love. In the TV show, however, Amenadiel is played by an attractive black actor.
** Remiel is a white male in the comics but is changed to an Asian female in the show.
** Mazikeen is portrayed by black actress Lesley-Ann Brandt, despite being white in the comics.
* ''Series/TroyFallOfACity'': Achilles, Zeus, Patroklos, Aeneas, Pandarus and Athena. They're usually depicted as ethnically Greek and Asiatic respectively, but are portrayed by black actors in the series, with Athena mixed race.[[note]]From the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Coloureds Cape Coloured]] group in South Africa.[[/note]]
* ''Series/ResidentEvil2022'': In the video games and other media Albert Wesker is depicted as Caucasian, whereas he is played by African-American actor Lance Reddick in the series.
* ''Series/LetTheRightOneIn'': In the original story the characters are entirely white. Here Mark (based on Håkan) and Eleanor (who originally had been Eli) are Latino. Isaiah (based on Oskar) is black.
* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'':
** Louis de Pointe du Lac in the TV adaptation has been changed to a black Creole, who was originally a white Creole in the source material. The character is played by biracial British actor Creator/JacobAnderson, who is of Afro-Caribbean and English descent.
** Claudia as well is played by biracial actress Bailey Bass, who is a Belarusian-Russian/African-American, while the character was originally white.
** The show's Armand, who was Caucasian in the books, is portrayed by Assad Zaman, a British actor of Bangladeshi heritage.
* ''Series/LockwoodAndCo2023'':
** White George Cubbins was changed to Middle-Eastern George Karim to reflect his actor’s ethnicity.
** Flo, Barnes, Grebe and Kat Godwin, who were all white in [[Literature/LockwoodAndCo the books]], are Black in the series.
* ''Series/TrueLies2023'': Helen in the series is played by biracial (Dutch/Filipina) actress Creator/GingerGonzaga. Of course her kids with Harry are also thus mixed, and look far more like her.
* ''Series/Dracula2013'': Nonso Anozie, a black Englishman, plays Renfield, who is portrayed as white in other adaptations.

** The 1998 series also added in two original characters to reflect Cackle's realistically being more diverse than when the books were written in TheSeventies (any illustrations showing Mildred's class would only show white girls). Jadu Wali is of South Asian descent, and Ruby Cherrytree is Black.

* ''Series/TheSummerITurnedPretty'':
** Belly, Steven and Laurel are white in the books, but Asian American in the series. Laurel's last name is changed to Park to reflect this. In the books, her last name is Dunne.
** Nicole is black in the series, but was white in the books.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "A Game of Pool", Jesse Cardiff is Hispanic. In the [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E70AGameOfPool original episode]], he is white.

* Velma Dinkley is portrayed by a Japanese actress in the live-action television films ''Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins'' and ''Film/ScoobyDooCurseOfTheLakeMonster''.

* ''Anime/TheSecretGarden'': In the [[Literature/TheSecretGarden original book]] by Creator/FrancesHodgsonBurnett, Dickon and Martha were white[[note]]Martha also had an infamously racist line where she said "there are blacks [in India] instead of respectable white people", that most adaptations [[CulturallySensetiveAdaptation cut out]].[[/note]] but in the anime, they both have tanned skin. It's likely because both of them regularly do hard work under the sun, as Camila (who is explicitly confirmed to be a [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} person of colour]]) is constantly subject to frequent racism and excluded by the village, while they aren't.

* ''Anime/TheSecretGarden'': In the [[Literature/TheSecretGarden original book]] by Creator/FrancesHodgsonBurnett, Dickon and Martha were white, (Martha also had an infamously racist line where she said "there are blacks [in India] instead of respectable white people") but in the anime, they both have tanned skin. It's likely because both of them regularly do hard work under the sun, as Camila (who is explicitly confirmed to be a [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} person of colour]]) is constantly subject to frequent racism and excluded by the village, while they aren't.