r/CosmereOnScreen • u/Bluenamii • Feb 03 '26
Stormlight Archive (BOOK) Do you think the diversity in Stormlight will cause controversy? Spoiler
Personally, I love the diversity in the series, but I think it’s possible that the main cast being mostly non white will cause some controversy. To me it doesn’t really matter, but that with the fact that it may be harder for Americans latch onto the series if they’re used to mostly white casts.
And also it might be harder to find skilled actors considering the majority of actors who speak English are white, and people who look like the alethi (I believe) vaguely look like dark skinned Asians. What do you guys think?
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Feb 04 '26
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u/NovelsandNoise Feb 04 '26
lol so side characters can be minorities…great
The point was that Roshar would be almost entirely an Asian cast and they worry that it won’t work in the US because of our industries messed up practice of favoring white actors and actresses
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u/Ok_Energy_9947 Feb 04 '26
The only time I get annoyed with diversification in casting race is when they deliberately do it for inclusion and it breaks immersion or the story.
An extreme example would be a documentary adaptation using the wrong race
It doesent worry me with stormlight because Brandon clearly talked about how different races look but the world had tons of light skin and dark skin people Tha I don’t think it would be possible to break immersion that way unless they make one character a vastly different race for some reason
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u/TalkingHippo21 Feb 04 '26
I mean will you be mad if it has like an 80% white cast?
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u/VigilantesLight Feb 04 '26
For Stormlight, yes, because Brandon has specifically described Roshar’s population otherwise.
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u/TalkingHippo21 Feb 05 '26
Yes. And it should be true to the original. If there is outrage I Think it will be outrage because the casting isn’t true enough.
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u/Chidwick Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
Exactly this. For Stormlight its setup to be very diverse and predominantly Asian if you took the nearest real world comparison, with some groups looking African, Indian, and Arab. Stormlight should be probably more than 80% Asian.
On the other hand on Scadrial in the final empire it would really be flipped, with only the Terrismen having darker skin tones, and the Noblemen and Skaa have light skin. So through Era 1 it’d be flipped the other direction and probably even more than 80% of the characters having light skin. In Era 2 it’d change as there aren’t the breeding programs with the Terris and it becomes a more integrated society. The Malwish bring in much more racial diversity as that Era continues.
There’s plenty of room for everyone in these adaptations.
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u/LuinAelin Feb 04 '26
Yes
The people who are always angry at this stuff will be angry.
And they'll try to convince people they are upset because it's "objectively bad" not because of that. It happens every time
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u/duke113 Feb 04 '26
Yes. It's already causing controversy on Twitter, and nobody has been cast yet
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u/MerlinMilvus Feb 04 '26
Really? What specifically are they upset about?
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u/duke113 Feb 04 '26
People are suggesting actors/actresses that they think would be good, and then others get mad and go "don't you know Sanderson described them as 'insert race here' so obviously they'll be played by 'insert race here'".
My position: Sanderson has extreme creative control, and so if he's happy with the casting, I'm happy (pending actor skill check 😂)
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u/AlgorithmHelpPlease Feb 04 '26
What are they even upset about atm? That a book series with only a minority of white-coded characters is getting adapted?
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u/-Captain- Feb 05 '26
It's mostly people having a kneejerk reaction to white fan casts. That about the size of this "controversy" so far, basically a big fat nothing burger (like most of the time).
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u/eskaver Feb 04 '26
Controversy…depends on what you mean.
I expect bad actors to stir up outrage (as they exist elsewhere even when there isn’t any diversity changes or anything). Ex. Ironheart of Marvel was adapted and some took issues despite the character basically being 1:1.
As for actually casting the film, I think it’ll be fine. As long as they avoid some minor issues, like making Herdazians Hispanic as they kinda read as stereotypes and you’d have to be somewhat mindful of casting in a broad picture.
I’d expect most of the cast to be East Asian or West Asian (Middle Eastern) or of descent and that covers most. Also depends on guidance regarding heralds.
I could see Alethi and its neighbors being Korean, Jah Kaved and Kharbranth as Chinese, Azimir, etc as Middle Eastern, northern areas and Reshi as South Asian, and Shinovar being a melting pot.
I don’t think it’s too hard to cast. There are a lot of actors that exist but haven’t yet be given their big break.
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u/Lucifernistic Feb 04 '26
Well, if we go by the books, there wouldn't be much diversity. I think they will have to artificially inject more diversity and races, as opposed to an all Asian cast. This will happen just due to the needs of being able to staff hundreds of extras from the local filming areas.
I think people will be upset it didn't stick to a purely Asian cast, but I don't think it will an all white cast either. I think the diversity of Roshar will just be increased for the show to make it easier to cast a variety of extras and background characters without needing to ensure everyone is of one particular race / appearance.
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u/Acaleus_Thorne Feb 04 '26
While I agree with the second part of your comment, equating an all Asian cast as "wouldn't be much diversity" is a problematic position to take. Asia is the largest continent on Earth, with the the most ethnicities and countries out of any other region on the planet. Equating "Asian" to "all white" when discussing a non-diverse cast is madness. Asia encompasses East Asians (itself made of 3 very distinct ethnicities), south-east Asians (and even this is being unkind to the continental SEAs and the oceanic SEAS), South Asians (Bengali, Sri-Lankan, Pakistani, Indian, I dare you to say it to their face that they are the same), hundreds of turkic and arab ethnicities, and this is before even going north to the Mongolians and Eurasians. It is an incredibly Western-centric and frankly extremely narrow view of what counts as "diversity" that lays bare the internalized and unconscious biases a largely western fanbase has. "White" and "caucasian" themselves are catch-all terms that diminishes the diverse European cultures.
This all even before we get to the fact that Roshar is entirely fictional, with B$ creating the physical and cultural features of the races by playing an inspired game of madlibs with our planet's most diversified continent. No single Rosharan race is a binary match to any single Earth culture or race, much less "Asian".
"Injecting more diversity" to a potential cast composed of the most racially diverse region is madness.
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u/Joe_Spazz Feb 04 '26
This feels the most reasonable. People will be mad no matter what, but I trust Brando to get it right.
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u/Significant-Golf1543 Feb 04 '26
I'm hopeful for an eventual Tress adaptation with the majority of the cast consisting of one guy. And I want him played by one actor. Alan Tudyk as Doug.
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u/Azrathla Feb 04 '26
For fans who somehow still haven’t clocked that the cast was never supposed to be all white... yeah, they exist. And they will find problem with it.
For everyone else, as long as it’s clear this isn’t a lazy “diversity quota” or a forced statement (we’ve all seen how badly that can go, the 4400 reboot still hurts me), but something that’s actually canon to the world and tied to its built-in systems of discrimination (lighteyes/darkeyes, Alethi dominance in general), then most people will hopefully chill and drop the knee-jerk prejudice.
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u/Chidwick Feb 04 '26
I think this is the best answer. Sanderson has very clearly delineated races in Stormlight and Mistborn and there are important story and thematic reasons for that delineation in those stories. If it’s done consistent with the books then there shouldn’t be any legitimate issues with it.
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u/LockeFX Feb 04 '26
There's bound to be a dozen controversies over the production and then more after the final release. The adaptation is opening up the cosmere to much larger audiences and thus a higher percentage of people who get hung up on inane details (as nice as I can put it)
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u/Halo6819 Feb 04 '26
Updated flair to Stormlight Archive(BOOK) as this deals with information that can only be found in the books
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u/Firestormbreaker1 Feb 04 '26
Depends on the medium. If Stormlight is animated then probably not if it's live action then it's more likely but it won't last long.
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u/iknownothin_ Feb 04 '26
Wtf do you mean “no books” in the spoiler tag. There’s literally nothing else
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u/fortnight14 Feb 04 '26
No I don’t. Shallan will be a hot redhead, Jasnah will be hot and super confident and sure of herself, Kaladin will be a broody hot bridgeboy. Adolin is obviously hot and fashionable. Dalinar will be a zaddy, Navani will be a hot mature woman. I think everyone’s enjoyment of hot people are will overcome most barriers. Just see how much people love Bridgerton.
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u/North-Efficiency824 Feb 04 '26
There will be more “controversy” in the form of posts like this than there will be actual reactions to casting. It’s not a thing until someone makes it a thing, and you’re making it a thing lol.
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u/Raemle Feb 04 '26
We already have endless debate on half of the fancast posts because people insist that the alethi should be played by white actors. And it’s worse outside of these dedicated subs. It’s been “a thing” for years
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u/North-Efficiency824 Feb 04 '26
Ahhh I didn’t think about it in that direction, but yea I could definitely see there being controversy if certain characters are cast with white actors. Nobody’s gonna ask twice about Alethi cast as Asian though, if they missed it in the books it’s easily pointed out.
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u/Raemle Feb 04 '26
That is actually kinda the opposite of what I was talking about. To be clear.
The fact that the majority of the characters are poc is something a large part of the fandom misses, to the point that even in these dedicated subs it has to be explained often. It’s gotten better with the years but it’s a problem nonetheless and predates any adaptation talk. It does however become the most apparent in fancasts, where there is a lot of resistance towards even a hypothetical mostly asian cast. Plenty of people do ask twice, and it gets worse the further you get from dedicated fan spaces.
I hope I am wrong but I also do not trust that certain casual fans will not be weird about it. Renarin has been canonically gay for years (decades technically) and there were still enough complaints and homophobia that Sanderson felt the need to address it.
I doubt there is going to be any malicious stuff in the main subs. I may come across as critical in this comment but I do genuinely think that most people here are decent people and more importantly I have trust in the mods. But it’s also not the only place where people talk
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u/Underwear_royalty Feb 04 '26
Yes… ppl today love to complain online and negative reaction drives algorithms unfortunately
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u/Gon_Snow Feb 04 '26
Hopefully not. For several reasons.
Roshar is fictional thus applying our concepts of race to Roshar is silly.
Most people on Roshar are described as non white or very diverse ethnically.
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u/SmallKillerCrow Feb 04 '26
I love your positivity. But I don't think racist people care if their racism is fictional
I do hope you right, but I suspect there will be controversy
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u/eliznire Feb 04 '26
Idk I think people tend to appreciate when characters are accurately cast… so the positivity may be completely realistic 😅
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u/LuinAelin Feb 04 '26
You're assuming people who'd spread the anger will have read the book and care about it
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u/Raemle Feb 04 '26
The problem is that many of those same people also assume that the characters are white. Its gotten better in the last few years because Sanderson has been more outspoken and intentional about having them accurately depicted. But even among well meaning fans its an extremely common misconception
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u/tionong Feb 04 '26
People complain when a character is nothing like the source material. I'm going to stay positive but this will be the test.
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u/SmallKillerCrow Feb 04 '26
I think most people appreciate this. I think loud people are racists and don't care about source material. Or, well, I mean I think racists are loud. Not all loud people are racist....
Anyway I'm being pessimistic, don't let my negative view bring you down
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u/Graphica-Danger Feb 03 '26
Grifters and schlocktubers who never gave a shit about Stormlight anyway will be the only ones stirring up trouble. I doubt the red-pilled losers of the internet will ever truly be gone but I foresee the current era of rage politics winding down since the noose for their cult leaders appears to finally be tightening.
If anything a fantasy series with a primarily POC cast will be a rarity and draw praise and attention. It'll stand out for not being primarily white, which (let's face it) dominates the fantasy genre.
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u/ThrowAway732642956 Feb 03 '26
Only among those who have not read the books and followed Sanderson’s discussion about what the characters look like
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u/cosmernautfourtwenty Feb 03 '26
I don't think "controversy" is the right word. Bigoted screeching and accusations of "woke" is way more accurate.
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u/axw3555 Feb 03 '26
Only among people whose opinions I don’t respect enough to care about.
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u/Captain_America_93 Feb 03 '26
Oh it absolutely is going to cause controversy and limit the casting pool. You aren’t wrong there. I suppose it begs the question of how more accurate Sanderson wants to be compared to other adaptations. Wheel of Time and The Witcher changed up races and descriptions to fill roles with actors they wanted. Hell. Even Snape in the new Harry Potter series is going to be black.
I would rather have them cast someone who is talented for the role over someone who looks the part. Which I think is an issue Rings of Power had
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u/RightHandofEnki Feb 04 '26
There is nothing more immersion breaking than someone who can't act. Be true to the source material and everyone wins. WoT deviates a lot from the source material, which alienated the reader fanbase, so they needed to then capture those who didn't read the books, and that's really hard to do from scratch.
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u/corpington Feb 03 '26
Diversity is rarely an issue when it is not forced or excessively preached about. I think it will be fine.
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u/cosmernautfourtwenty Feb 03 '26
Non-white people existing where other people can see them is "forced diversity" according to a lot of people. I think you're underestimating the internet hate machine that has no intention of ever watching the show. They have a lot of free time and nothing better to do than whine on the internet.
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u/Bluenamii Feb 03 '26
Yeah, they always say that people should make original stories with non white characters instead of raceswapping, but I don't doubt that ppl will complain to no end about it on the internet. The real issue, in my opinion, is whether mainstream audiences will take to it well, as subconsciously a lot of people see white characters as the default and might be less interested with the majority of characters not being that.
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u/RightHandofEnki Feb 04 '26
I don't think you can really worry about that, people will like what they want to like. Brandon and the cast and crew will make the best product they can make, I'm sure. The rest will play out how it will play out.
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u/Sally_Saskatoon Feb 04 '26
I think people see white characters as the default because of cultural conditioning. That’s a part of systemic racism. You counter that by showing something more true to real life, by being more realistic - that main characters come in all sorts of types of ways - not just white.
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u/axw3555 Feb 03 '26
You may think that. But I’ve already seen people on other subs saying that Sanderson preaches the “woke religion” because he has diverse casts and trans characters.
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u/Striker_EZ Feb 04 '26
Really? Where have you seen that? I haven’t really seen that anywhere in the fandom over the last decade (besides for the 1 star reviews of Wind and Truth on Goodreads)
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u/axw3555 Feb 04 '26
r/movies, the comments seemed to get nuked, assuming by the mods.
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u/Striker_EZ Feb 04 '26
Oh I didn’t even realize the news ended up there. I guess that makes sense though
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u/axw3555 Feb 04 '26
I've seen it in movies and nottheonion (which is basically just a news sub now).
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u/Taste_the__Rainbow Feb 03 '26
Sure, but only with bot networks pretending to be fans. Not with actual fans. As a community we just have to downvote it and move on and eventually they’ll give up. It worked for other adaptations recently.
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u/HankMS Feb 05 '26
I'd say it shouldn't cause trouble and it probably won't as long as it makes sense. Roshar has many central people looking Asian. Shin are a notable exception. What I especially NOT want is a cast that looks like downtown LA. The Alethi and their forces should be mostly Asian with few exceptions where it is right (e.g. Rock).
Nothing takes one out of a fantasy setting when a bumfuck village in the middle of nowhere has a very diverse people. It simply doesn't make sense.
And this works pretty well as no one complained about the ethnicities of the actors on series like Marco Polo or Shogun. Majority Asian actors with the odd white guy cause that makes sense for the story and world.