The hit and miss history of black actresses associated with Charlie's Angels. I am honestly surprised there wasn't a black Angel from the inception of Charlie's Angels. It seems they focused more on the brunette, redhead, blonde Angel for "diversity" instead of the usual casting approach of Spelling-Goldberg Production - which was pretty inclusive for it's time, with characters like Link on The Mod Squad and Webster on The Rookies. Teresa Graves would have been an interesting choice. When Kate Jackson announced her departure from the series in 1979, many actresses were rumored contenders for the vacant spot on the team. Shari Belafonte was a favorite of producer Ed Lakso. Ultimately, Shelley Hack nabbed the role, but left herself after one season. Jayne Kennedy was a heavily rumored contender for the new Angel in 1980 (although Jayne says she was up for Kate's replacement a year earlier in her autobiography, "Plain Jayne"). The series ended after the 1980-81 season, and Tanya Roberts nabbed that role. In 1988, new network Fox wanted to bring back the Angels with Aaron Spelling producing. Halle Berry auditioned, but it was Sandra Canning who was the first black actress cast in an Angel role. She was to play actress-turned-private eye Trisha Lawrence in "Angels '88". Sadly, after a strike and other delays, Spelling decided to switch gears and give up on the new Angels in lieu of Beverly Hills 90210, which went on to become another juggernaut hit for him. In the 1990s, Leonard Goldberg was working with Sony to bring Charlie's Angels to the big screen. Every actress in Hollywood was seemingly considered, and Thandie Newton was offered the role of Alex Munday, but declined. Lucy Liu accepted the role instead, becoming the official first non-caucasian Angel. Nia Long also auditioned for Alex, and has since discussed her experience with Sony over stereotyping the character. The film premiered in 2000 and was a global hit.
After the films from 2000 and 2003, Drew Barrymore tried for nearly a decade to bring the Angels back to television with a new team. In 2011, she landed a deal to bring the Angels back to their original network, ABC. The first new Angel announced was Annie Ilonzeh. Annie played Kate Prince, the first official black Angel in the series. The show had a slow start and was quickly cancelled, but the episodes that aired after the cancellation were a marked improvement, so it is sad that ABC did not give the series a chance before pulling the plug.
Before that decade ended, rumors were flying that Sony wanted to give the Angels another chance on the big screen. Hot on the heels of her directorial success with Pitch Perfect 2, Elizabeth Banks was tapped to direct the new Angels film. Janelle Monae was rumored as one of the new Angels, but it was ultimately newcomer Ella Balinska who joined the new team. The film was not the hit Sony hoped for, so that film may be the last we will see of Ella's character Jane Kano. Who knows where the franchise will go from here, but I certainly hope there is a future and there is some diversity with the casting.
