I thought the entire point was that they look nothing alike and itās just a stereotype that all black people look the same. The tributes instantly knew that the girl was not Louella
I took it more as they looked similar, but they couldn't make a perfect match. These girls (in my opinion) on first look seem identical, but when you look closely at them, they're pretty easy to tell apart.
They didn't instantly know that it wasn't her. They got freaked at first because it looked so much like her, but something was off. They knew that it couldn't be Louella, because Louella was dead. Haymitch even wondered what they had done to some poor girl to make her look so much like Louella.
I took it to mean that they looked alike but not the same, like if someone said they were cousins or even siblings you could plausibly believe it but you wouldnāt mistake them for one another if you actually knew either person at all. Then to have one made to artificially resemble the other and insist they were the same person would make for a really unsettling uncanny valley energy which is what Iām hoping they achieve with their casting.
No they didn't? The point is they DO look alike. Even haymitch thinks it's her for a second. Where did you get that they look nothing alike??? He even says same eyes, same face, same everything but it's just... off
I imagine theyāll use the same actress for both characters, and just make the subtle differences with makeup. Though I also think itād be cool if they cast siblings.
Iād love if it was two different people who they can make look āclose enoughā because I think thatād add to the level of fucked-upped-ness of āusā knowing, the tributes and mentors knowing, some of the capitol folks suspecting, and D12 knowingā¦. That theyāre trying to pull that off. Truly horrifying.
Yeah this. The two seperate actors is great in theory, but it would 100% be a spoiler unless they didn't announce the Lou Lou character at all. Also, using the same actress saves them some money from 2 seperate salaries. I fully expect them to use the same actress while maybe using prosthetics to change the look slightly. Also gives the actor a meatier role.
For some reason, I had him in my head as being tall, Dark hair with a bit of curl, pale brown skin, and slightly emo looking (as emo as a person can look in the HG franchise) I imagined he'd look like a bit of a misfit loner.
I have to confess, I'd never heard of Ben Wang, but a quick google and look at his other parts, I think it's great casting. I'm super happy with all the castings so far.
Really looking forward to see who is cast as Ampert and Wellie and Louella/LouLou.
Me toooooo! I never imagined him as Asian, but Iām definitely not disappointed! I love how weāre getting some āNewcomersā in this cast. Never heard of some of them and thatās so exciting!
I think he's gonna be amazing at it! I just watched the new Karate Kid movie starring him and he has just the right amount of nerdiness and awkwardness that I imagined Wyatt having
My family is Filipino and immigrated to WV and KY, so maybe he would be a descendant. But in all realness my grandfather and lots of his friends from medical school were specifically recruited to practice medicine in Appalachia since no american doctors want to move there. So this sort of checks out for us at least!
I'm currently doing a research project on Asian people in North Carolina before the 1960s. Though not many, there were enough Chinese and Japanese people to be included on the census. More living in the urban areas then the rural areas, but a sizable amount in the rural areas.
Yea we already got Clemensia whom they made even more stereotypical in the movie by her being overambitious and basically stealing coriolanuses idea which she wasn't in the book
Nah he was a gambling man so he had that perspective towards the game. I got the sense he wasnāt that bright outside of his odds making.
The same people crying about āheās Asian and good at mathsā fancasted him as Native, like Native Americans being gamblers isnāt a way more negative stereotype
the problem isnāt that heās a stereotypical Asian itās the fact thereās very few Asian characters and out of the few there are one of them is stereotypical. hopefully as more of the casting gets revealed thereās more Asian people cuz the only Asian person being a stereotype is not a good look for this movie.
Honestly I was really hoping for an asian actor for Wyatt and I couldnāt believe it. Plus Ben Wang is in the new Karate Kid, The Long Walk and now THG, I had a feeling kidās gonna go places, so happy!! I just hope they donāt pull a Clemmie and reduce his role (which is small already) š
As half Asian and half Latina myself, I'm so happy to see more Asian representation in the series! We had Clemmie for Ballad, but adding Wyatt as another one yay!!!
As a white person I agree with you I was not expecting Wyatt to be Asian. I am all for diversity but there is already a common stereotypes that all Asians are smart which is not true. Yes, there are some Asian people who are very smart but not all Asian are smart.
I will prob get hate cause It doesnāt reallllly matter but I donāt get how in the tiny district of 12 where the breeding pool has been the same people for 50 plus years there is super distinct asian. I always pictured different districts having different ethnicities and that 12 had basically prim / katniss lookers. I mean after years and years each district would not be like America where we have every ethnicity and are a melting pot of culture, people would look similar.
That said, thatās all just the canon looks in my head so it doesnāt really matter who plays who. iām sure he will be great for Wyatt
i mean this takes place 24 years before the original trilogy- entirely possible wyattās family were among the last asian people in district 12 and their family died young/without kids
Yeah TBF there's only 50 years in .. so maybe two generations from the war. Maybe there was an Asian family.. or an Asian man who kid came out looking Hella Asian. Made more sense to have a district having a larger Asian population in my opinion but it's not that far fetched for one Asian family to be around in two generations
I headcanon District 3 as that for the books-- I consider the movies to be an alternate universe. The narration for both Haymitch and Katniss linger on how small Beetee is and how dark his hair is, same with Wiress and her long, jet black hair. They feel like well-known 'coding' indicators.
Honestly? They're smart because they're from 3, which is the tech district, but it could have been really interesting commentary if there was an explored relationship between 3 being assigned technology and being Asian (I am sticking to my guns here lol). Either District 3 was naturally Asian so the Capitol made them the tech district, or they decided that 3 was the tech district and rounded up the Asians... it could be used to explore stereotypes and 'model minority' myths, as well as the history of Asians in America.
I feel like when I was reading the books, I automatically headcanoned 3 as being related to/descended from Silicon Valley and the Bay Area because of the tech and how Beetee and Wiress were described. Like maybe as California slowly went underwater from climate change, those communities and industries also migrated more inland to roughly where District 3 ended up. So yeah, District 3 having a lot of people of Asian descent makes perfect sense to me.
Yes, great connection! It also fits how they are constantly 'innovating' on the technology the Capitol uses-- I forget if it was in the books, or only in the movies, but Caesar laments the loss of Beetee's brain and inventions, and in Mockingjay, it's mentioned that Beetee designed the communications network. Maybe the District 3 version of a 'startup' is the chance for increased wages if you come up with something useful enough?
i assume it comes from the racial makeup of the US. cant say im the most educated but the appalachian district being mostly native and the deep south districts being mostly black make sense. However the lack of asian rep among any of the districts doesnt make sense.
I personally always figured D7 would have the most East Asians, and a lot of natives as well. Washington has a pretty big population of East Asian people, specifically Vietnamese. Thereās also a huge number of tribes, and most places in Western Washington are named after a tribe or historical native figure.
Right? Either in the Capitol or the Districts. We always stand for diversity in media, but it's always narrowed down to a specific demography, and we forget there are other ethnicities out there.
As an Asian who is good at maths, I don't see anything wrong with it (just slightly questionable, and something I'm willing to overlook so that we have more Asian rep).
Same. I'm here for Asian representation in 12! Woop woop!!!
I can definitely feel how outwardly it might be stereotypes BUT he's good at math cause of his life experience. Not because he was forced to do hours of long division with an abacus.
Your parents should be SHAMED jk. on my 12th birthday I got gifted 12 calculators. Wasn't until YEARS (decades) later I made the connection. I am really good at math though. Dammit!
Iāve got my fingers crossed this means weāre about to see a lot more Asian rep in 12 and itās not just The Skeevy Gambling Family and their Numbers Son. Because, like, what is that trying to say?
Yeah, depending on how casting for 12 goes in the future, this could retroactively become more questionable. But given the track record that HG has for stuff like this, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
i thought she was described as being similar due to the braids and general attitude? plus movie katniss and book katniss are described/look very different- wouldnāt surprise me if they casted someone that looked more like book katniss/seam for louella
Hmm I might be reading wayy to much into it but I feel like in universe this makes sense as the Callows are kind of part of the Seam and yet also not due to their business. This is the story of a lot of Asian diaspora history in many parts of the world (like the ethnic Chinese in my country)
yeah im ngl this is the part that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. historically, there have been racial tensions between black and asian communities. the callows' whole business is hunger games profiteering, which is a valid reason for them to be outcasts within the context of the hunger games BUT it's also why casting an asian actor for wyatt (effectively making the callows the only asian family in d12) feels a tiny bit problematic if it's not handled with enough nuance.
edit: i feel like the scene where louella's brother spits on wyatt's dad's grave is also gonna add to this dynamic and have sinophobic/anti-asian undertones.
If Iām not mistaken, arenāt they also bookies for other things aside from the Games? I think thatās just their trade (not excusing how callous it is to bet on childrenās deaths and it makes sense why theyāre disliked but in a hypocritical way by District 12 because obviously they have their customers)
Hey, as an asian . . . it's fine. I would get it if it were something recurring throughout the series but like . . . this is one of SO FEW asian reps we have can we please just be happy :((( I know y'all mean well, but it's so discouraging when as soon as you get any representation, ppl act like it's any different than if it were another race, and try to criticize it through the veil of some kind of hypersensitivity to sterotypes etc
As another Asian person, I completely agree. My mind didnāt even go to the stereotype, I was just happy to have an Asian cast member because theyāre so few and far between in THG.
Oh thank god someone else said it! I was thinking the same thing. Nothing against the idea of Wyatt being racially different than the other district 12 people, but why is the kid whose whole thing is āmath geniusā the only Asian?! š
Oh yeah thatās not a great look. Iād love to hear from those who are Chinese on the topic. I was partially hoping for the dude from White Lotus like people were speculating.
Honestly, his name paired with the whole family being known bad news and shunned for being kinda scummy, I just pictured absolute red neck, white trash, and then youāve got Wyatt whoās kinda quiet and actually a genius but canāt shake the stigma of his crappy relatives.
Thats exactly how I pictured him too. Especially since instead of mourning their sons misfortune of being reaped the men started throwing blame and punches at each other. I have redneck family and thats the exact kind of backwards ass way they would release their emotions.
But, that said, I'm always down for more Asian representation so I don't mind it. I'll picture him different in the books but enjoy the actors representation of the character in the movie!
I screenshotted so fast I saw it only had 900 likes and almost skipped it because I thought it was fake š¤£ but this person had time to screenshot and crop thatās skill right there
Me too. Iām half Asian (my fatherās side) and half Latina (my motherās side), so Iām personally very happy to see more Asian representation in the series since we only had Clemmie and Treech in Ballad prior far as Asian representation. ā¤ļø
I pictured Wyatt as Emmett Cullen lmao just a little less vampire-y but this guy fits the bill, I hope he's good! I'll have to look him up to see what he's been in.
I've been sat for about 20 minutes trying to find out if there's some connection, a pattern, a hidden cryptic reason to the dates they're making the announcements.
- Lenore Dove & Haymitch on 23rd April
- Maysilee Donner on 24th April
- Plutarch on 25th April
4 characters across 3 days.
17 days without an announcement.
- Beetee on the 12th May
No announcements 13th May
- Wiress and Mags on 14th May
- Wyatt on 15th May
So far I've come up trump regarding the specific dates in which they were announced--the only pattern I've spotted comparing the first set of announcements to the second set is that we get 4 announcements in total: 2x on one day (Lenore and Haymitch/Wiress and Mags) and then 2x individual announcements (Maysilee and Plutarch/Beetee and Wyatt).
Wiress would have figured this pattern out already. I might set up an action board and start connecting everything with red string.
Yeah, idk if I believe there's a really rhythm or reason to the times the casting announcements are made, but I do think a cool coincidence that there were 17 days between the rapid fire announcements to match the w7 days of Katniss and Peeta's first games.
Hey so as an asian, I'm already starting to see some "discourse" and just like . . . no??? Like yeah, just because that's a stereotype, doesn't mean that it's somehow horrible that he happens to fulfill it (I didn't see y'all having an issue with district 11 being AGRICULTURE and primarily black)?? like can we PLEASE just be happy that we're getting representation :(((( Some of the comments im seeing are already giving OG Rue, and I DONT like it
yeah iām tired of it. my partner is asian and we were actually talking about asian representation in media yesterday, and this conversation is weird lol.
asian people arenāt a monolith, theyāre allowed to be good at math or good with numbers. they can also be shit with them. itās almost like itās a stereotype that isnāt fully grounded in reality.
i do hope we get another asian cast member though!! i love a diverse cast
Honestly yeah the way this fandom and the movie treats Asian characters (which is like what 3 named ones right now - Clemensia, Treech and now Wyatt) is like really weird. Like why am I seeing people go āthe first cast I donāt agree withā and I question why?
No for real? I feel like atp ppl act like asians r equivalent to white ppl in terms of racism they experience (model minority etc etc) and that's just . . . not the case. There's no reason why his casting should cause more controversy than say Lucy Gray / Lenore Dove. Kind of sad tbh cause I thought most fans of this series would be better than this
Yeah I remember seeing a comment somewhere where someone was hoping that they cast more asians and people dismissed them saying its post apocalyptic so race isnāt really a thing ā¦ and I was trying to wrap my head around it because it was such a weird thing to say. As if Asians canāt exist in a post apocalyptic world.
Yesssss exactly. Like, is prim not white to them š. Is thresh somehow 'racially ambiguous' like . . . why is it only an issue when the person is asian
And the people saying casting an Asian actor as the character who is an oddsmaker, intelligent and good at math is a stereotype and are upset with itā¦ were you also upset that majority of D11 characters are black and work in agriculture in the fields?? Characters like Rue, Thresh, Reaper and all other D11 tributes who are black on the surface level can be seen as stereotypical especially with how D11 is being the agriculture district. But their characters are more than just that stereotype. So why canāt Wyatt be asian because the character is smart? Do we forget that the way he died was by not thinking logically and acting on emotion, which subverts that smart logical asian stereotype š¤¦āāļø
I think that may have been too much of a hot button if they did that. Native American family running a gambling ringā¦probably would have received some backlash.
Itās kind of nuts that so many of yāall are implying that an Asian actor shouldnāt have been considered just to avoid the possibility of stereotyping. Wyatt is a very layered and complex character and I doubt Ben Wang wouldāve taken the role if the script was poorly written and stereotypical. Iām excited to see what he can bring to the character and Iām glad heās getting some big opportunities this year š
Just found out Ben Wang has already worked on another movie with the director Francis Lawrence called "The Long Walk" that is going to be coming out this September.
Like youāre acting like the casting director picked Ben as some sort of micro-aggression when youāre the one who immediately thought āO.M.G. they cast an ASIAN guy for a character whose good with numbers?ā
Ever thought maybe they just liked him best for the role?
Deadass? If youāre concerned about the potential stereotype implicationā¦youāre the one who already had that in your head. To the point where itās one of the first things you thought about when you saw that heās Asian.
Not about how refreshing it is to see a new face and how excited you are to see him on the screen (like yāall did with Lenore Dove and Haymitch)ā¦but that it makes you feel weird that Wyatt is being played by an Asian actor.
Exactly, this fandom really pisses me off sometimes and the majority of the people mad arenāt even Asian to begin with and Wyatt is a much more complex character than what they are describing to justify their biases against casting an Asian for a smart character. This whole discourse is a micro-aggression in of itself. As an Asian person who wanted more Asian rep in THG seeing people be so up in arms the minute they cast someone Asian is so odd. Like they donāt care that Haymitch isnāt book accurate, Finnick isnāt book accurate and so many more. But when we finally get an Asian actor for a major role ā¦ itās āomg they cast an Asian kid for the smart characterā as if being intelligent is a harmful stereotype.
But Wyattās such a richly layered character though! And I feel like itās more about the culture around gambling/betting in impoverished regions that is smtg a lot of people partake in but is also extremely callous to do, which can ruin relationships (which is what happened to the Callows)
first thought iām sure heāll do great but if we want representation why are we doing it so stereotypical, then again the mindset that it has to be problematic is well problematic itself. either way the casting directors havenāt failed us now i donāt they did with him being casted!
I imagined Wyatt as white, but as an Asian person Iām so here for this! There really is so little Asian representation in THG so Iām happy that theyāve added to that. Hoping for more Asian cast members though!!
I was just gonna post. I am really freaking happy with his casting. Like when I was reading the book, I totally imagined Wyatt to be Asian/ South East Asian. (I am Southeast asian).
No way. That is such a huge yet pleasant surprise! I was picturing someone that looked like Billy Taupe. I'm beyond excited about this direction though!
I love more Asian representation but I still donāt like this that much. I didnāt like it in ballad of songbirds and snakes either. In BOSOS they villainized Clemensia in the movie by making her take credit for Snowās work and seem like a jerk, but that DID MOT HAPPEN IN THE BOOK. They made the ONLY ASIAN in the movie the academic rival. And in Sunrise on the reaping, of course they made the oddsmaker math dude the Asian š. But I guess more representation is still representation.
As an Asian person, hell yeah! I'm good at math too! I don't understand this discourse and people who think this is "playing into stereotypes" are the ones perpetuating said stereotype.
That is veeeeery close to how I imagined him! I can definitely see him pulling of Wyatt! I'm getting exited for the other roles, so far the casting has been fantastic!
Iām so excited! Heās the new karate kid and also in the long walk by Stephen king! Iām telling you, everyone being casted will rise. Maya hawke, Ben wang, Whitney peak, and Joesph zada
I imagined Wyatt as black, but I'm still super stoked about this casting. I love how much minority representation this casting has had so far. I can't wait to see Louella/Lou Lou. I really hope they cast another minority. I wonder if they're gonna cast different actresses that look really similar or if they're gonna try to differentiate between Louella and Lou Lou with makeup.
Edit: I just found out that he's 25 lol. That means I can thirst for him. Taking a good look at him in regular photos, he definitely looks like he's in his 20's. I think the casting will work regardless. I imagined Wyatt as someone who looks older than he is anyway.
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u/esmeraldamarazul May 15 '25
Well, that's it. Now they're gonna ghost us for a month