George R. R. Martin is one of the most popular and influential writers in American literature. His series of epic fantasy novels titled ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, was adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series ‘Game of Thrones.’ It also boosted the popularity of his work.
However, the 74-year-old author has been receiving a lot of heat over inclusive casting in shows. Fans have called for a boycott of his upcoming book ‘The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One‘. Let’s find out more about it.
Read More: George R R Martin Reveals The Reason For Not Attending ‘House Of The Dragon’ Premiere
Fans Threaten To Boycott The Latest Book Of George R. R. Martin
Martin’s work has been widely read and well received by everyone. He is currently serving as the executive producer of ‘House of the Dragon‘, which is a prequel to ‘Game of Thrones.’
However, fans are threatening to boycott his upcoming book ‘The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One‘ after it was revealed last week.
Several fans called out the problematic behavior and “history of racism” of his coauthors, the couple Linda Antonsson and Elio M. García Jr. “I will not be buying anything with Linda and Elio attached to it,” one user wrote.
Antonsson’s blog posts, some of them written more than a decade ago, had him calling out the casting of people of color in ‘Game of Thrones‘. Recently, Antonsson wrote that the character of Corlys Velaryon, played by Steve Toussaint in ‘House of the Dragon,’ was miscast. “There are no Black Valyrians and there should not be any in the show,” she said.
Antonsson Has Defended Her Words
In an interview with Variety, she said people are criticizing “cherry-picked statements stripped of context.” She said that being “labeled a racist, when my focus has been solely on the world building” has bothered her.
The author said she strongly believes that “diversity should not trump story.” “If George had indeed made the Valyrians Black instead of white, as he mused on his ‘Not a Blog’ in 2013, and this new show proposed to make the Velaryons anything other than Black, we would have had the same issue with it and would have shared the same opinion,” she said.
Steve Toussaint recently said that people who object to his playing a “rich Black guy” have no issues with the existence of dragons.
Antonsson said his comments are a “false dichotomy which completely misses the point of how secondary world fantasy functions.” She said that changing the ethnicity of a character “raises all sorts of logical questions”.
