'OUAT's Rapunzel Is A Refreshing Change

There's a unique joy that comes with Once Upon A Time's regular casting updates; even if for those who don't actually watch the show or who quit watching a while ago can admit there's an intrigue that comes in watching the ways in which fabled fairytale characters are interpreted or updated. Once Upon A Time cast its Rapunzel today, and this one's peaking our interest in a big way.

Alexandra Metz is the actress Once Upon A Time's chosen to take on the legendary Rapunzel — a character most recently seen in a blonde hair green eyes incarnation in Disney's Tangled. And while we love us some Tangled, we gotta say we're pretty damn happy that Metz is neither of those things.

Metz has recently been seen as a witch in The Originals (see above), and was in Chicago Fire before that.

And yes, we live in a world where we should be evolved enough as a society and a media that we shouldn't have to give creators or studios pats on the back for casting people of color in roles that have long been played by white folk. We also live in a world where we are still frequently whitewashing even the roles made famous by people of color, though, so we have to say that we are kind of over the moon that Once Upon A Time is showing us a Rapunzel whose long flowing hair isn't necessarily what we've seen before (if we're lucky it won't even be straight).

Once Upon A Time has of course done a little bit of "racebending" in their casting before, casting Teen Wolf's Sinqua Walls in the part of Lancelot. That was cool, but Lancelot was also a relatively tiny part, so we're hoping they give Metz here some more beef to work with.

Image: The CW