Director Elliott Lester explicitly required this change as a core story decision, making the villain’s gender a recurring point of confusion and commentary among characters (“He’s a she”). This meets the guideline floor for gender-swapping established characters and elevates the score, though the film remains a grim, traditional Western revenge tale centered on rescue, bounty hunting, and frontier survival rather than identity politics or systemic critiques. Gbenga Akinnagbe portrays Eustace, an ex-slave gravedigger, in a role that aligns with the post-Civil War Texas setting without any indication of forced inclusion.

The narrative avoids activist lectures, modern identity framing, or thematic emphasis on diversity, keeping progressive elements limited to the single casting decision. This balance produces a final score of 5 rather than a higher rating that would require ideological centrality or repeated messaging.