Once Upon a Time Casts Its Rapunzel, Gets Some Diversity Up In Here

I’m intrigued. Tell me more.

Once Upon a Time has chosen actress Alexandra Metz to play its Rapunzel in an upcoming season three episode. According to TVLine ‘Punzie is only set for season three, episode 14 as it stands now, though it’s always possible she can be brought back. If Rapunzel turns out to be an interesting character she probably won’t be brought back, because that sort of neglect is Once’s modus operandi. (I don’t care about Snow and Charming anymore. I don’t carrrrre.)

Metz was on Chicago Fire as well as (briefly) The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals. I haven’t seen her in anything, so I can’t speak as to the quality of her acting, but I will say how refreshing it is to see a character so commonly pictured as a white woman with long, blonde hair as a person of color. When I was watching Once it had a major lack-of-diversity problem (as does so much of TV, grumble grumble), so seeing Metz’s casting is very, very welcome.

There is one more actress added to the cast: Rebecca Mader, who played Charlotte on Lost, will be the new villain when Once comes back from hiatus in March. Her character is one of Disney’s iconic villains, though exactly who is being kept a secret. I’ve seen speculation that she’ll be Cruella de Vil, though that’s probably only because Cruella’s one of an ever-shrinking number of villains who hasn’t been on Once yet. Who else is there? Ursula was covered in season three, right? Madam Mim from The Sword in the Stone?

Nothing against Mader (we Rebeccas have to stick together), but I would really, really love for there to be a person of color cast in a recurring role. (Is there one now? I haven’t watched season three. Though I might give it a shot if I hear they’re using Mulan as much as she deserves, which is all the time.) I get that a lot of the fairy tales on which the show is based are set in Europe, at least in their Disney incarnations, but c’mon. That’s a lame excuse for having a show that’s 95% white.

(via: TVLine, Entertainment Weekly)

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?