There's been a notable shift in how Hollywood approaches diversity since the death of George Floyd, with Gone with the Wind pulled from HBO Max before being put back with a warning message, The Flash star Hartley Sawyer fired from the series for racist comments, and several episodes of big TV shows like 30 Rock and Scrubs pulled from streaming services for using blackface.
In an interview with Variety, Arrowverse creator and DC TV executive producer Greg Berlanti talked about the "responsibility" he has when it comes to taking characters from the past and finding a way to bring them into the modern era where they can represent the world we live in today.
"In the DC Universe especially, there’s been a focus on us recognizing that we want to create heroes that look and felt like today, not the 1940s or 1950s, They were all very well intentioned when they created those back then, but there’s a certain responsibility that you have if you’re going to escort these iconic characters into this generation to make sure they have the heart of that character, but they don’t have to have the gender or the color of that character or the sexuality."
Looking across the shows Berlanti is in charge of, those changes are clear to see; black actress Candice Patton plays Iris West in The Flash, while a number of other characters have had their genders or ethnicities changed over the years. In Supergirl, there's even a transgender character played by trans actress Nicole Maines (Dreamer).
In future, Berlanti will also be overseeing Green Lantern for HBO Max, so his stance on diversity hopefully means John Stewart is finally given the chance to shine in a live-action setting.
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