House of the Dragon star Steve Toussaint on racist abuse over his casting: It took minutes

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House of the Dragon star Steve Toussaint has reflected on the racist backlash to his casting in the Game of Thrones spin-off.

House of the Dragon is set hundreds of years before the events of Thrones, and follows the story of the Targaryen civil war.

In the show, Toussaint plays Corlys Velaryon, who the author of the books the show is based on, George RR Martin, had written as a middle-aged white man. When news emerged that he would be played on TV by a Black actor, internet trolls leveled racist abuse at Toussaint.

When my first photo came out on Twitter it was, Oh, wow, this? Toussaint told The Guardian.

But its been so interesting. I mentioned this the other day to my white friends, and they were all like, Oh my God! But when I mentioned it to my friends of color, they were like, Well, we knew that was coming, you know?

We were just, I wonder how long it will take? And it was minutes. None of us were surprised.

He added: Its funny, because you go, You dont have a problem with flying dragons, but a Black guy whos a nobleman? But I dont hate. Listen, those people are best left to themselves. To those things.

There have been numerous incidents of racism after Black actors have been cast in sci-fi and fantasy films and TV shows. When John Boyega was cast in Star Wars, he was subject to racist abuse. More recently, Moses Ingram was attacked online she appeared on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Moses Ingream in Obi-Wan Kenobi

(AP)

Joining Toussaint in the cast of House of the Dragon are Paddy Considine, Rhys ifans and Matt Smith. The latter recently said he found himself questioning the number of sex scenes that were required while filming the HBO series.

The series will be released in the US on Sunday (21 August), with the UK premiere arriving at 2am on Sky Atlantic the following day. Following the simulcast, it will be available to stream on NOW.

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