Fan Forum - [Daenerys & Missandei | Emilia & Nathalie] #6: "You are good to this

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The Telegraph wrote a piece centered on the question of race in Game of Thrones featuring quotes from Natalie Emmanuel, who plays Missandei on the show. She talks about the storyline she is closely involved with:

I understand people’s feelings on the issue, but, at the same time I think the show is really good at creating characters of all races and colour that have power and education. It’s not just a stereotype of ‘white powerful person’ and ‘enslaved non-white person': I think it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Daenerys as a character, she’s been sold like a slave, for the advancement of men, to gain power – so it’s a different type of slavery, but it still counts. Regardless of how you feel about the fact that you’ve got this white woman saving all these slaves, she’s coming from a place where she understands and almost feels that she’s been in a similar place. They [the programme-makers] just show a girl who has seen something she finds wrong, and is doing something about it. To bring race into it – obviously it’s relevant, but it’s not fundamentally what it’s about.

The article recalls earlier comments from George R.R. Martin on the same issue. He brought up the showrunners’ efforts to promote diversity, such as casting a black actor for Areo Hotah, the honorable guard in the Dorne storyline whose race is not clearly specified in the books. GRRM also said:

Westeros around 300 AC is nowhere near as diverse as 21st century America, of course … but, that being said, I do have some ‘characters of colour’ who will have somewhat larger roles in Winds of Winter.

Nathalie Emmanuel, Sophie Turner, and Kit Harington interviewed | Watchers on the Wall | A Game of Thrones Community for Breaking News, Casting, and Commentary