T3 brings back almost all of the main characters and actors from the previous two installments. This leads back to the previously discussed dilemma of non-original work: once a character is cast, it is highly uncommon to recast it with an actor of another race. But what about new characters? Is there some ratio of whites to non-whites that is determined in the original work?
For those who have yet to see a Transformers movie, the Transformers are alien machine beings fighting a war among themselves. Earth becomes just another battleground. Shia LaBeouf's Earthling character (Sam Witwitki) is befriended by one of the machines, and Witwitki becomes involved in the many battles between the Autobots (good guys) and the Decepticons (bad guys).
So how about cast diversity? The second iteration of Transformers received an enormous black eye when two of the Autobots - "Skids" and "Mudflap" - were acted out with exaggerated ebonics. The two characters were labeled as "racist caricatures" (huffingtonpost.com) by some, leading director Michael Bay apologize and strike the characters from the theatrical release of T3. Unfortunately, T3 swings so far in the other direction as to eliminate all but one non-white Transformer. There are still no female Transformers.
To be fair, there are some non-white live-action actors in the movie. But their numbers are few and certainly none of these actors are top-billing or represent characters in positions of authority. That is unless you count Leonard Nemoy as a Vulcan.
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