HBO’s Game of Thrones has always faced backlash when it came to cast diversity, simply because it was dominated by white cast members. House of the Dragon, on the other hand, distanced from the first show with co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal having found a clever way to bring a more representative ensemble to Westeros while continuing to be faithful to the source material that is George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones books.
Condal shares the reason behind inclusive casting on The Wrap and it is not for some sort of ‘hidden propaganda’ but rather the choice that best fits the era the show is being made for today.
“I think it was not that simple. I think the reason that it’s been a successful choice, frankly — I mean, not everybody’s ever going to be happy — the reason it was successful is because it was thought out, it wasn’t just done perfunctorily or wasn’t just done to tick a box or to be seen as progressive.”
The showrunner continues to make his statement known as he delves into the art of storytelling, how fiction impacts our reality and that is through proper representation while also managing to fit the show’s message to keep up with the current times.
“It’s 2022, it’s a different era than the shows used to be made in, we have an incredibly diverse audience that’s not only across America, but in multiple countries that speak all sorts of different languages, that represent all the colors under the sun. and it was really important to see some of that reflected up on screen [in a fantasy world]. I think, simply, because of the fantasy world, if we believe in dragons, and shapeshifters and direwolves, we can believe everybody in the story is not white.”
As for why the showrunner chose the Velaryons to be ‘the right house to make Black’, Condal says it’s rooted in something Martin had already written, and it aligns with the cause of the showrunner to help viewers be able to distinguish the families from one another, seeing as having almost similar sounding names were confusing enough.
“Why we went to the Velaryons in particular was because that felt like the most fantastical race in the show, and it felt like these were people from a lost continent that we don’t really know that much about. It always stuck with me, this article where George (the author) had talked about when he set out to write these books, considering making all of the Velaryons Black, and Black people with silver hair, that always really stuck with me as an image.”
The latest episode of House of the Dragon is now available on HBO Max. House of the Dragon Episode 9 is titled The Green Council and is set to premiere on Sunday, October 16, 2022, at 9:00 PM EST.
Also Read: House of the Dragon: George R.R. Martin Says Game of Thrones Prequel Should Get 4 Seasons
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!