It’s not all about skin colour, need to see whether there are changes to the story just to insert some sohai propaganda by activists.

However, there is one thing that Astrid, Ariel and Hermione have in common; they are not real. What does it matter who is cast in the role if they're good at it? Wolverine is Canadian, but Hugh Jackman is Australian. Get rid of him. Ahsoka Tano is a Togruta, but Rosario Dawson is a human woman? We should cancel Star Wars. The narrative over whitewashing now being replaced by the exact opposite is nonsense at best and harmful at worst. Parker will be a tremendous Astrid and How to Train Your Dragon will be better for her presence.

https://collider.com/how-to-train-your-drag...y-dean-deblois/

Although many audience members are excited by How to Train Your Dragon's live-action cast, others are not too pleased. The main issue seems to be the casting of Nico Parker as Astrid. In the original How to Train Your Dragon, Astrid appeared as a White woman, yet Parker is Black. Many have argued that Parker's race does not make sense because Vikings were historically White. Some have gone so far as to claim that Parker's casting is cultural appropriation. DeBlois has responded to these critiques by noting that How to Train Your Dragon is fantasy, not history.

The backlash against Parker's casting is not anything new in Hollywood. In the last few years, many remakes and adaptations have changed the race of certain characters. In 2014, Quvenzhané Wallis played the iconic red-haired orphan Annie, and many viewers disliked this change. More recently, the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid also made audiences upset. Ultimately, these arguments bring up important questions about diverse representation in movies and how much creative integrity remakes are allowed to have. It seems like this type of debate will not be going away any time soon.

The backlash against Parker's casting as Astrid is generally ridiculous. Society may have an image in their heads of what Vikings looked like, but this idea is probably far from reality. As DeBlois explained on Instagram, Vikings were nomadic and traveled far and wide. In this way, it is entirely possible that there were Black Vikings. Even then, this argument about historical accuracy is pointless. Perhaps Black people were not Vikings, but there is no such thing as dragons either. If How to Train Your Dragon was supposed to be historically accurate, then there wouldn't be much of a movie.

To reiterate DeBlois's main argument, How to Train Your Dragon is supposed to be a dragon fantasy movie. Because of this, the race of the characters is irrelevant. On top of that, DeBlois has pointed out that in the live-action iteration, the dragonriders come from all walks of life, so Parker's race makes sense. For audiences, the most important aspect of casting should be whether that actor can successfully portray the character. According to DeBlois, Parker gave the best audition, so viewers should trust that, regardless of her skin color, Parker can embody Astrid's personality.

https://screenrant.com/how-to-train-your-dr...lash-explainer/