Rhenzy Feliz (“Teen Wolf,” “Casual”) as Alex Wilder is a loud-and-proud nerd. Admittedly a bit of a loner, Alex spends much of his free-time playing video games, but deep down, what he wants most is to reunite his childhood group of friends.
Lyrica Okano (“The Affair,” “Unforgettable”) Nico Minoru–tough, intelligent, and independent–embodies teenage angst. A budding “Wiccan,” Nico’s carefully crafted goth appearance isolates her from her peers and family, but maybe what she really needs is someone to talk to.
Virginia Gardner (“Goat,” “Little Bitches”) as Karolina Dean, model-perfect exterior with a lot going on behind her professionally whitened smile, is burdened by the lofty expectations and responsibilities put upon her by her parents. Underneath her veneer of privilege and perfection, Karolina is experiencing a newfound eagerness to explore her identity and pursue her own desires.
Ariela Barer (“New Girl,” “One Day at a Time”) as Gert Yorkes is a purple-haired, bespectacled, contemporary riot grrrl. Never passing up a moment to stand on a soapbox, Gert sometimes wields her persona as a brash social justice warrior to mask her true feelings.
Gregg Sulkin (“Faking It,” “Don’t Hang Up,” “Anti Social”) as Chase Stein is a lacrosse-playing, high school heartthrob. While many write him off as a dumb jock, Chase exhibits flashes of untapped brilliance in engineering, not unlike his wildly successful father’s.
Allegra Acosta (“100 Things to do Before High School,” “Just Add Magic”) as Molly Hernandez, the youngest and most innocent member of her friend group, is known for her peppy positivity and a deep yearning to belong.
The thing that makes Nico Minoru so important to me isn’t just the representation that checks off a box, but Lyrica Okano’s performance that showcases that representation. As a young Asian American, the way Nico is portrayed is not something that I’ve honestly ever seen on TV.
Nico is strong, funny, honest, and multifaceted. She is quite literally magical. From finding power and love with Karolina to reconciling with her family and herself, Nico’s arc is dynamic, fun to watch and moving. I’ve never seen that in a television character that looks like me. Her romance is arguably one of the most important things to the show, and the fact that it is a wlw couple blows my mind still just thinking about it.
There aren’t many Asian/Asian American wlw on mainstream American television and showing Nico who’s comfortable with who she is has helped me accept myself. She’s dark and shy and spends a lot of time thinking and worrying. But the writers didn’t change who she is, just gave her a love that helps her find strength and a way to be both dark, but also step into the light: Karolina. They give her that affection and support and they don’t take it away.
They make her flawed, capable of making mistakes and having regrets. I think the perfect example of this is the ending of season 3, which is why I loved it so much. Nico breaks the rules of time for love, just like Chase, and changes the one thing she majorly regrets: losing the love of Karolina. Nico gets the girl, maybe in a unorthodox and unpredictable way, but she does. She’s given the opportunity to fix her mistake, and she takes it. I’ve noticed that often in media the minority characters are responsible for the mistakes of those in the majority, but are given no way to rectify those errors. Nico is given the same kind of redemption arc as a character that I’m sure would normally not look like me or most people of color, and that’s really amazing.
By letting Nico heal and showing three years pass, the show has illustrated that it’s possible for people, no matter what they look like or who they love, to find redemption, but beyond that, find happiness and love. Karolina isn’t just asking Nico to physically find her in the new timeline, but asking her to find light, to find happiness. And Nico is able to promise that she will.
Seeing an Asian American character that isn’t there for humor, for laughs or sexualized has shown me that there’s room for me at the table, on the screen, in the classroom and on the team, not something I ever thought possible before. It’s okay to be powerful. To be strong. To be self reliant. To be honest in how I feel. To wish for things. To love who I want to love. To live how I want to live. For all of it to be done openly. And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay not to care so much what people think.
Because Nico is unapologetically herself throughout the series: she wears black every day, her girlfriend is a glowing rainbow, and she has a magical staff attached to her soul, but the hardest thing for her has been to learn how to be happy. But she does learn, and in turn has shown me that no matter what guilt or dark parts I have inside of me, no matter if I’m frightened or the only person who looks like me in the room, I can learn to be happy too.
So thank you, Nico Minoru. And really, Lyrica Okano and the writers for Runaways for providing that. I couldn’t be more grateful.
