The all-female team structure is taken directly from Jeff VanderMeer's source novel and remains free of activist framing, while any diversity in casting stays incidental and unemphasized, with character backstories centered on personal traumas such as addiction, loss, cancer, and self-harm rather than identity-based grievances. Director Alex Garland has stated that the film examines universal self-destruction at cellular and psychological levels and deliberately sought an absence of argument on gender or politics, casting performers according to fit without studio mandates for messaging. Themes of identity mutation arise strictly from the story's biological premise and bear no connection to systemic oppression or identity politics. Criticisms of whitewashing regarding Portman and Leigh roles, referencing later book details on Asian and Native heritage, are addressed by Garland's choice to adapt only the first novel with a focus on narrative over representation.