Last week, Disney announced that they were fast-tracking their live-action remake of their popular animated film Mulan. Mulan is beloved by many, many people, and many of those people were really, really worried that Disney was going to completely f—k up a live-action film. One of the biggest concerns was and is that Disney will hire white actors to play significant roles. The other big concern is that Disney will change the story significantly so that the story of a woman’s self-sacrifice and badass-ness will become all about some dude-bros.

At first, there were jokes made about all of the whitewashed “dream casts” for Mulan, like Disney was going to cast Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey or something. Disney insisted that of course they were going to hire Chinese and Chinese-American actors, which is good news (and hopefully they’ll stick with it). But then over the weekend, there were reports that the script was changed so that Mulan would have some kind of “white savior” figure. Sources say… no, but with some caveats.

Disney recently began its search for a leading lady to star in its upcoming live-action version of Mulan—an actress that, the studio clarified, will definitely be Chinese. That declaration eased concerns that the film might end up whitewashing a story based in Chinese legend, like several films that have come before it. Much of that goodwill dissipated, though, on Monday, when rumors flew that the film will feature a white male lead. Now a source close to the project has confirmed to Vanity Fair that the lead love interest in the film will be a Chinese character after all.

On Monday, someone who said they had read a Mulan spec script posted an anonymous open letter to the site Angry Asian Man. The post claimed that the script featured a white savior type, a “30-something European trader” who falls in love with a teenage Mulan. Actor Joel de la Fuente tweeted in support of the article, sharing that he also read the spec script. “I can back you up on what you’re saying. I confirm everything you said about that draft.”

A source, however, tells V.F. that the spec script will not serve as the official script for the adaptation. “The spec script was a jumping-off point for a new take on the story that draws from both the literary ballad of Mulan and Disney’s 1998 animated film,” the source said. “Mulan is and will always be the lead character in the story, and all primary roles, including the love interest, are Chinese.”

The statement seems to confirm that the spec script might have included a white male lead, which would have been disappointing had it come to fruition. However, fans should be glad to know that when the live-action movie itself eventually hits theaters, Mulan’s story will stay true to the character’s roots.

[From Vanity Fair]

So yes, there was an original script where Mulan falls in love with an older white guy who “saves” her but the script is being changed and…okay. If Disney insists that they’re committed to making this film with a primarily Chinese cast, then I choose to believe them. I think they know that they’ll be wading into a huge controversy if they don’t hire Chinese and Chinese-American actors. But! I do think that Disney is going to put some white actors and white characters in there just because they can’t help themselves.

Photos courtesy of Disney.