After dropping its official trailer earlier this week, House of the Dragon is ready for take-off. But racist abuse still plagues the Game of Thrones fandom.
Actor Steve Toussaint, 57, who will play Corlys Velaryon in the Game of Thrones prequel, has revealed that horrific insults came his way after joining the cast.
House of The Dragon boasts a significantly more diverse cast than its parent series, but social media backlash has dogged its promotional campaign.
Some fans were upset when black actors were cast as the members of House Velaryon, who will be key players in the upcoming story, set more than 300 years before the events in Game of Thrones, following the origins of the Targaryen family.
British actor Toussaint has spoken out about the abuse he’s received, saying: ‘I didn’t realise [me being cast] was a big deal until I was racially abused on social media’.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said he took the abuse in his stride and simply got on with his job.
‘Yeah, that s*** happened. I was just like, “Oh wow,” and then I thought “Okay, this means a lot to some people”, but I can’t allow that to bother me.’
He continued: ‘I loved Game of Thrones but my only caveat was, “Where’s everybody else in this world?” I think this show comes closer to [showing] that’.
Some fans of George R. R. Martin’s supplementary novel Fire and Blood, upon which House of the Dragon is based, responded angrily to the casting news when it was first announced.
In the novel, the House Velaryon are said to share ancestral lineage with the Targaryen family – as a result, some readers imagined them as having white skin.
But, as other fans have pointed out, the novel never confirms the skin colour of the members of House Velaryon, only the silver-blonde of their hair.
It is also fictional and irrelevant.
In the world of House of the Dragon, House Velaryon are an ancient and proud family whose empire stretches back generations and across many territories.
Their empire, based on that of the Romans, is described as being ‘cosmopolitan’, with the Velaryons intermarrying with houses and families with darker skin tones.
Although, those excited for the show’s premiere have rightly pointed out that House of the Dragon is a fantasy adaptation that can cast anybody it wants to for any of the show’s many roles.
Watch House of the Dragon on HBO Max and Sky Atlantic on August 21.
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