Clue board game kills off Mrs. White for more diverse new character

The Wrap
July 9, 2016 at 2:05PM
Dr. Orchid, bottom right, joins Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green and Col. Mustard in new Clue sets beginning next month.
Dr. Orchid, bottom right, joins Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green and Col. Mustard in new Clue sets beginning next month. (Randy Salas/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It was Hasbro, in the boardroom, with a healthy dose of feminism that killed Clue mainstay Mrs. White.

"It was a difficult decision to say goodbye to Mrs. White — but after 70 years of suspicious activity, we decided that one of the characters had to go," Jonathan Berkowitz, Hasbro Gaming's senior vice president of global marketing, said in a statement posted by MentalFloss.

"Dr. Orchid is a brilliant new character with a rich backstory and links to the Black fortune. We're sure families around the world will continue to create thrilling murder mysteries with all six suspects inside of the iconic Tudor Mansion."

Based on the above Hasbro photo, the Asian-appearing Dr. Orchid is also the only person of color in the game.

Orchid is "a biologist with a PhD in plant toxicology, privately schooled in Switzerland until her expulsion following a near-fatal daffodil poisoning incident," per Hasbro. "She was then home-schooled by the very woman she would go on to replace, the late housekeeper, Mrs. White."

The company went on to fill out Orchid's backstory as the adoptive daughter of Tudor Mansion's rightful owner, Samuel Black. She'll join Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, and Col. Mustard in new Clue sets beginning next month.

Invented by British musician Anthony E. Pratt, Clue first launched in 1949. Hasbro has been making the Clue sets since the early '90s, when the toy company bought previous manufacturers Parker Brothers and Waddingtons.

Clue was adapted into a feature film in 1985. Written by John Landis, the movie version starred Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean and Martin Mull, among others.

about the writer

about the writer

The Wrap

More from No Section

See More
FILE -- A rent deposit slot at an apartment complex in Tucker, Ga., on July 21, 2020. As an eviction crisis has seemed increasingly likely this summer, everyone in the housing market has made the same plea to Washington: Send money — lots of it — that would keep renters in their homes and landlords afloat. (Melissa Golden/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT58
Melissa Golden/The New York Times

It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.