Consider that authors so beloved that they have a fan base, and their associated works, are in fact because the works are beloved as-is. Adaptation will always

Consider that authors so beloved that they have a fan base, and their associated works, are in fact because the works are beloved as-is. Adaptation will always require some adjustment based on the resultant medium, but that's where the adaptor needs to be very sure-footed in what makes a beloved work beloved. Sure, you can never please everyone. If an author of a book does not describe in precise detail what a character looks like, the reader will fill in something, and that something will be different for every reader. However! When adapting a beloved novel (and here is where I get blasted for isms), if the author did in fact choose to describe physical attributes of characters, environmental and scenic settings, etc. and the adaptation is intentionally different, it will (regardless of intent) not be true to the original. Purists and fans don't often like this. Sometimes it works, but it's a big gamble. Plenty of excuses for why this happens. Modernizing dialogue, forced or expected ethnic/sexual diversity, "they embody the character regardless of appearance", or as often comes up with fantasy/sci-fi/fiction-in-general, "it's not real so it doesn't matter if it changes" (though BBC productions seem intent on treating well documented real history as fiction for some reason). Look, it's OK to have diversity on camera and stories. It's fine and welcomed. But... if the original was specific about a character's depiction, be respectful of that regardless of whether you agree with why. Sure, Jane Austen might have been a terrible racist who wouldn't have ever considered an Asian character, and maybe an Asian actor embodies the character better than anyone else. That still isn't honest to the material, and people know it, it takes them out of it. "Why is there a Japanese woman in this historical context? Why does Anne Boleyn have dark skin and clear African origins when all contemporary accounts and depictions of her describe her as pale and from Northern climes?" In sum and at great risk of sounding like a racist bigot blah blah incel 4channer etc.: if you want ethnic and sexual and [other] diversity and modern concepts, make your own stories.