Who will they play?
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. Martin, the first of which is A Game of Thrones. The show was shot in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, and Spain. Actress Game of Thrones Gemma Elizabeth Whelan (born 23 April 1981) is an English actress and comedian, best known for playing Yara Greyjoy in the HBO fantasy-drama series Game of Thrones. Whelan attended The King's High School for Girls in Warwick. In addition to being an actor and comedian, Whelan is also a professional.
Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen. Viserys was chosen by the lords of Westeros to succeed the Old King, Jaehaerys Targaryen, at the Great Council at Harrenhal. A warm, kind, and decent man, Viserys only wishes to carry forward his grandfather’s legacy, but as we’ve learned from Game of Thrones, good men do not necessarily make for great kings.
Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. She’s the daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.
Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. The king’s first-born child. She is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything…but she was not born a man.
Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen. The younger brother of King Viserys and heir to the throne, Daemon is a peerless warrior and a dragonrider who possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…
Penelope Featherington has a question for TV audiences who find it easier to accept the existence of dragons than a Black queen. During a recent appearance on the British talk show This Morning, Nicola Coughlan compared Bridgerton to Game of Thrones while speaking about the show's diverse casting. The series — based on a series of romance novels by Julia Quinn — has earned both praise and criticism for casting Black actors like Regé-Jean Page as Simon Bassett, the Duke of Hastings, and Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte.
Coughlan, for her part, defended the show's decision to cast people of color in non-traditional roles by comparing Bridgerton to another popular series. 'I would say to people, 'You can watch Game of Thrones, and you can completely suspend your disbelief that there are dragons in this world,' the actor explained. 'For Bridgerton, you can suspend your disbelief that we have a black queen and a black duke, and they're the most fantastic actors.'
She continued by noting that she hopes other period dramas will follow in Bridgerton's footsteps and continue to cast the best actor for the part, regardless of their race or ethnicity. 'I'm so proud of it, and the reaction that we've had is just really heartening, and I hope that it will be a benchmark for what period dramas can be in terms of diversity,' Coughlan said.
While the cast and crew have defended Bridgerton's inclusivity, Coughlan did admit that there is one downside. '[I was] speaking to Adjoa Andoh ... who's brilliant as Lady Danbury,' the actor recalled about one conversation that helped her understand the importance of how the casting was handled. 'I said, 'Color-blind casting, it's great, it's totally the right thing.' And she said, 'Well, it's not, in a way, because it sort of erases race and erases people's struggles.'
While Coughlan admitted that thought never occurred to her, she ultimately thinks the series is a 'completely reimagined world' and should be treated as a historical fantasy, rather than an accurate period piece. Page — who plays the handsome Duke of Hastings — echoed those sentiments in a December interview with The Guardian. 'It's not color blind casting because I don't think it's helpful to put brown skin in the show without putting brown people in the show,' he explained.
The actor continued, 'This show is a glamorous, ambitious Cinderella fantasy of love and romance — I don't know why you wouldn't invite everyone to come and play in it, especially since we're serving a global audience on Netflix. It takes so little imagination to include people, as opposed to how much thought and effort it takes to keep people out of these stories.'
Game Of Thrones Cast New Famous People
Coughlan and Page aren't the only ones who have appreciated the effort that has gone into casting actors of all backgrounds in Bridgerton; as the Derry Girls star pointed out on Twitter, the series is Netflix's fifth-biggest original series to date. 'You know the way some people were like 'Diversity in period drama doesn't work'....63 million households thought it did tho so,' Coughlan wrote on Jan. 5. 'Remember people were trying to downvote the show on IMDB cos it was so diverse?' the actor added. 'You can't downvote us being Netflix fifth biggest original release ever.'