Gender flip

A gender flip is when a fictional character is created to have a different sex/gender in another setting or in an adaptation of a work. The Internet meme Rule 63 predicts the prevalence of this.

Notable examples

• Sherlock Holmes' companion Dr. John Watson (male) is in some adaptations changed to females: Joan Watson in Elementary (2012 TV series) or Jane Watson in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987 film)
• Foundation (1951 novel) character Gaal Dornick (male) was changed to Gaal Dornick (female) in Foundation (2021 TV series)
• Starship Troopers (1959 novel) character Dizzy Flores (male) was changed to a female in Starship Troopers (1997 film)
• Dune (1965 novel) character Liet-Kynes (male) was changed to a female in Dune (2021 film)
• Bedazzled (1967 film) character the Devil (male) was changed to a female in Bedazzled (2000 film)
• The Wicker Man (1973 film) character Lord Summerisle (male) was changed to Sister Summersisle (female) in The Wicker Man (2006 film)
• Dead Ringers (1988 film) characters Beverly & Elliot Mantle (males) were change to females in Dead Ringers (2023 miniseries)
• 12 Monkeys (1995 film) character Jeffrey Goines (male) was changed to Jennifer Goines (female) in 12 Monkeys (2015 TV series)
• The 2022 DreamWorks The Bad Guys, had Mr. Tarantula's gender swapped to a girl in the film from the children's book series of the same name
• My Friend Flicka (1943 film) based on the 1941 children's book of the same name with protagonist and 10-year-old boy Ken McLaughlin changed to a 16-year-old girl named Katy McLaughlin in the infamous 2006 remake loosely based on the book.
• Doctor Who. The long-running British television series features "regeneration" of the lead character. In 2018, Jodie Whittaker became the first woman to play the eponymous Doctor.
• Frequency (2000 film) and Frequency (2016 TV series): John Sullivan, played by Jim Caviezel in the movie, was changed to a female character, Raimy Sullivan, played by Peyton List, in the television series.
• On Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series), Kono Kalakaua, who was a male character in the original 1968 series, played by Zulu, was changed to a female character, played by Grace Park.
• John Hillerman's character from Magnum, P.I., Jonathan Higgins, was changed to a female character, Juliet Higgins, played by Perdita Weeks, in the 2018 reboot.
• MacGuyver(1985) and MacGuyver(2016): The character of Peter Thornton (played by Dana Elcar) in the original series was changed to Patricia Thornton (played by Sandrine Holt) in the 2016 series.
• Dynasty (1981) and Dynasty (2017): The female character of Sammy Jo, played by Heather Locklear, was changed to a male character, Samuel Jones, played by Rafael de la Fuente, in the reboot.
• The character of Robert McCall, played by Edward Woodward on The Equalizer (1985), and Denzel Washington in the 2014 film and its sequels, was changed to a female character, Robyn McCall, played by Queen Latifah, on the 2021 reboot.
• In the 1987 film Overboard, the plot was about a single Father with three sons, claiming an amnesiac Woman as his wife and Mother of his sons. The genders are reversed in the 2018 remake, with a single Mother with three daughters, claiming an amnesiac Man as her husband and Father of her daughters.

See also

Look up gender-flip in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Rule 63, an Internet meme that states that, as a rule, "for every given male character, there is a female version of that character" and vice versa.
• Cross-gender acting, when actors or actresses portray a character of the opposite sex.