#please lmk if any of my assumptions are wrong if anyone has any additional knowledge

[pinkcrocss]

Randomly fell down a rabbit hole of the original Gen V castings, and here is what I surmised from a combo of wiki summaries, rumours on reddit and vague screen rant articles...

Originally the show was pitched/written by Craig Rosenberg. From there, Jaz, Lizzie, and Maddie were all officially cast. Furthermore, Shane Paul McGhie was cast as Andre and Aimee Carrero was cast as maybe Shetty (not certain). At this point, the script was completely different from what it is now, and I believe was much more of an ensemble show as opposed to Marie being the central character.

Okay, then Reina Hardesty was cast as Fem!Jordan. At this point, Craig Rosenberg left the project due to "creative differences with Amazon" and Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters were brought in as show runners. At which point the original script was heavily changed and both Shane Paul McGhie and Aimee Carrero left the show. Aimee because pre-production ran too long and she received other jobs, and Shane because of "creative differences" again (I think maybe Andre's role was maybe reduced in the new script).

So then, Chance was brought on to replace Shane and I think Derek was brought on around this time. At this point the other cast members had had a few weeks to bond already, but then Reina also backs out, citing "creative differences". Then they brought on London to replace Reina (which according to London was very last minute).

The last to be cast, I believe were Asa (Sam), Shelley Conn (shetty), Patrick (Luke), Sean Patrick Thomas (Andre's dad), Marco Pigossi (Cardoso) and finally Clancy Brown (Brink).

Note, a lot of this is speculation, and it's possible the order of events might not be 100% accurate...

So my questions are...

What was the first script like? And what were the changes that Amazon was so insistent on that it made the original writer leave the project?

What changes were made to Andre and Jordan's characters that made the original actors leave such a lucrative opportunity?

And despite Jordan being portrayed as 100% East Asian in the show with two fully asian actors cast as their parents, why did the casting directors insist on only casting visibly biracial asian actors (particularly wasian) for this role?

Like, I love the casting we did end up with. But it seems like such an intentional casting choice to make three times, why not just make one of Jordan's parents white, then?