Bestselling fantasy author and “House of the Dragon” executive producer GeorgeRR Martin is caught in the crossfire of the heated battle over inclusivecasting — and some of his fans are calling for a boycott of his upcoming bookdue to comments by its coauthors.
Out Oct. 25, “The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the TargaryenDynasty, Volume One” is being touted as a “deluxe reference book” for thoseitching to learn more about Westeros’ most powerful family. When Martinpublicized it on social media lastweek, thousandsof fans responded in outrage, many calling out the problematic behavior and“history of racism” of his coauthors, married couple Linda Antonsson and ElioM. García Jr. “I will not be buying anything with Linda and Elio attached toit,” one wrote, while others urged Martin to sever ties with the pair.
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Now the coauthors are fighting back, with Antonsson insisting to _variety_that she is not a racist and García saying he feels under attack for stickingto his views about Martin’s original works.
The “Game of Thrones” superfans have been collaborating with Martin sincebefore HBO’s hit adaptation of his “A Song of Ice and Fire” books. Soon afterAntonsson and García created online forum Westeros.org in 1999, Martinrecruited them as fact-checkers for his book “A Feast for Crows.” In 2014,they served as coauthors on “The World of Ice & Fire,” an illustratedcompanion book for the series of novels.
Critics have taken issue with Antonsson’s blog posts, some dating to more thana decade ago, in which she decries the casting of people of color in “Game ofThrones” to play characters that are white in Martin’s books. In one post fromMarch 2012, for example, Antonsson complained about Nonso Anozie, a Black man,getting cast in the role of Xaro Xhoan Daxos, who is described as pale in thebooks. Five months later, she celebrated the fact that white actor Ed Skreinwas cast to play Daario Naharis, despite a rumor claiming the network waslooking to fill the role with someone of another ethnicity.
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More recently, Antonsson wrote that the character of Corlys, portrayed bySteve Toussaint on “House of the Dragon,” was miscast. “There are no BlackValyrians and there should not be any in the show,” she said of the commonancestors of Velaryons and Targaryens.
Antonsson contends that upset fans are criticszing “cherry-picked statementsstripped of context.” She tells variety that it bothers her to be “labeled aracist, when my focus has been solely on the world building.” According to theauthor, she has no issue with inclusive casting, but she strongly believesthat “diversity should not trump story.”
“If George had indeed made the Valyrians Black instead of white, as he musedon his ‘Not a Blog’ in 2013, and this new show proposed to make the Velaryonsanything other than Black, we would have had the same issue with it and wouldhave shared the same opinion,” Antonsson says.
Inclusive casting in fantasy has become a hot-button issue recently, withBlack actors in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “Obi-WanKenobi” facing racist comments online. Toussaint recently noted that some fanswho object to his playing a “rich Black guy” have no issue buying into theexistence of dragons.
But Antonsson dismisses Toussaint’s comments as a “false dichotomy whichcompletely misses the point of how secondary world fantasy functions.”Changing the ethnic makeup of characters “raises all sorts of logicalquestions,” she contends.
Antonsson notes that her gripes with “House of the Dragon” aren’t limited toits casting choices: she takes issue with the specifics of one character’sdeath because it differs from Martin’s source material, as well as the lack ofrepercussions for Ser Criston Cole’s actions in Episode 5. García adds thatthe duo tried to “stir up a #FixASeahorse campaign” after the series changedthe Velaryon house sigil from an actual seahorse to a mythical half-horsehalf-fish, but they were “too late.” Still, Antonsson and García say they’reboth really enjoying “House of the Dragon” and credit showrunner Ryan Condalas “someone who clearly cares about the source material.”
As for Martin, who declined to speak with variety for this story, Antonssonsays he is “very much aware” of the arguments she and García have had onlinewith fans. She adds that while Martin “doesn’t see the point in engaging withpeople” on social media, “he has not suggested we should stop sharing ouropinions.”
Finally, Antonsson supports boycotting authors she doesn’t agree with — shejust wishes fans were doing it “because of our actual opinions rather thanthose they project on us.”
Ten Speed Press, the publisher behind “Rise of the Dragon,” did not respondto variety ‘s request for comment.
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