The end of 2018 sees the return of the 80s cult classic "Heathers." The main cast for the show includes a genderqueer character and a black lesbian who act as the leaders of the most incredible group in the school and occasionally bring hell to the not-so-cool students.

This perfectly exemplifies color-conscious casting. In acting and Hollywood lingo, Color-conscious casting depicts the holding of auditions for roles with an emphasis on the talents and experiences of actors and actresses rather than their skin or race. In simpler terms, it means casting minority races, such as Blacks, Asians, Latinas, Transgender, and others, into roles previously played by cisgender or white actors/actresses.

Looking at it from the outside, the color-conscious casting seems a great way to establish a level playing field for all races and genders, but in its detailed view, it presents a couple of problems, as exemplified by the Heathers TV show.

The Heathers TV show highlights some of these problems tied to this casting method. Firstly, the fact that the new "Heather" characters are minorities and the plot demand that they are bullies defeats the essence of color-conscious casting, which essentially is to create racial awareness on the screen instead of diversifying the production.

There are solid merits and demerits of productions involving color-conscious casting. Several TV shows have demonstrated color-conscious casting in the past few years, none more successfully than "Hamilton."

In "Hamilton," the differences between immigrants' rights today and what it was during the founding years of the United States make the show's choice for color-conscious casting prominent.

The audience already knows that Alexander Hamilton is originally black, but casting him as another race makes the casting stand out.

Another show that incorporates color-conscious casting is Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale," which utilizes two black characters as the leads of the show, different from the source material it was adapted from. The story, which focuses on a dystopian society, touches on critical aspects such a society will encounter but has yet to explore the complications of a person of color living in such a society.

There is the hope that although "The Handmaid's Tale" has failed to address the glaring issue of minorities living in a future dystopian society, I will be able to give a chance to her lead characters a to explore the impact of a colored person residing in such a community.

That said, color-conscious casting can play a prominent role in "The Handmaid's Tale" if the plot allows the lead casts to tackle their character development as it ought to be.
Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is another adaptation of a book that utilizes color-conscious casting. Blacks play the two lead characters.

Even though the show fails to address the issue of race, it isn't seen as a significant issue at all as the fictional setting doesn't allow for that, instead, absurdity is the order of the day, and logic is tossed out the window.

Including people of color in the show makes the fictional world a bit real without the need for minority inclusion to be justified.