The cast of Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga is speaking out on the backlash the show is getting for “white-washing” the characters.
Precious Mustapha, Eliot Salt and Elisha Applebaum, who play Aisha, Terra and Musa, spoke in a new interview about the claims.
“It’s really sad to see that fans were upset with the casting,” Elisha shared. “I wasn’t involved in the casting but I hope that what they’ve seen and how I’ve portrayed Musa was to their liking.”
She continued, “I’ve only seen great reviews back from them so they’ve been open-minded from what I’ve created, so I hope that it continues to be that way.”
Backlash came just after the trailer for the dark-toned live-action series debuted.
Musa, who is the Fairy of Music, was notably East Asian in the animated series, but Elisha herself is not. More over, original animated fairy Flora, who is Latina, was absent from the series altogether, and instead, replaced a cousin, Terra (Salt).
“I think it’s really important that we do see [Terra and Flora together] and if we’re lucky enough to get a season two that’s my greatest hope,” Eliot added in the same interview. “I think the conversations that have happened around that have been really important and I’m really glad that they’ve happened.”
While there is some diversity, Precious, admits there “could be more”.
“I’ve always been someone who always looked for people who look like me on-screen,” she said. “That’s few and far between.”
“The industry is getting to a point where we’re starting to see more diversity on screen, but it’s obviously not enough and there’s still more work to be done,” she says, adding, “It’s really nice to be on a show where there is a lot of diversity. There could be more and hopefully if we get a season two there will be a lot of that.”
Fate: The Winx Saga is streaming now on Netflix.
If you missed it, see what Abigail Cowen shared about her own hopes for season two.
