Game of Thrones slammed by John Boyega for lack of diversity: ‘There are no black people’

The Star Wars actor has criticised producers for casting predominantly white actors
Hitting out: John Boyega has slammed Game of Thrones for its lack of diversity
Matt Alexander/PA
Jennifer Ruby19 July 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

John Boyega has criticised Game of Thrones for not having an ethnically diverse cast.

The British Star Wars actor slammed the hit fantasy show for its lack of black characters, saying that he doesn’t want to see “one type of person” on screen.

“There are no black people in Game Of Thrones,” the Londoner said in an interview with GQ.

“You don’t see one black person in Lord Of The Rings. I ain’t paying money to always see one type of person on-screen.”

Game of Thrones: Season 7 - In pictures

1/21

He added: “You see different people from different backgrounds, different cultures, every day. Even if you’re a racist, you have to live with that. We can ruffle up some feathers.”

While many Game of Thrones cast members are white, a number of black actors have featured in the show, played by actors including Nathalie Emmanuel, Jacob Anderson, Lucian Msamati and DeObia Oparei.

George R R Martin, who wrote the novels and created the franchise, recently spoke out about the lack of diversity in his source material.

“Westeros around 300 AC is nowhere near as diverse as 21st century America, of course... but with that being said, I do have some "characters of color" who will have somewhat larger roles in Winds Of Winter,” he wrote on his blog.

“Admittedly, these are secondary and tertiary characters, though not without importance. Of course, I am talking about the books here, which is a thing apart [from the TV show].”

He added: “I do think HBO and [creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are doing what they can to promote diversity as well, as witness the casting of Areo Hotah. Of course, Hotah is a guard... but he is also a viewpoint character in the novels, a brave and loyal warrior.”

Boyega has just finished shooting the eagerly-awaited new Star War film, The Last Jedi, which is slated for release on December 15.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in