“Game of Thrones” fans call for a boycott of George RR Martin’s new book, accusing his co-authors of racism

“Game of Thrones” is one of the most successful series – and now sagas – in the history of television, but for one reason or another it has always been surrounded by controversy. The arrival of his prequel, “House of the Dragon”, ignited the debate on racial inclusion in the Seven Kingdomswhen it was announced that the series would feature black actors in its cast, despite not existing as such in George RR Martin’s books.

Now, the popular fantasy author is preparing for the release of his new book (no, we don’t mean ‘Winds of Winter’), an illustrated guide to the Targaryens titled ‘The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History’. the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One ‘and is released in English on October 25. The book, described as a “luxury query volume”it is co-written by marriage Linda Antonsson and Elio M. García Jr., who have in the past been accused of making racist comments on the castings of “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon”.

For this reason, some fans have called for a boycott of the publication, pointing to the troubled track record of the writers. when martin A.D presale of the book on September 26 on Twitter, his followers did not hesitate to recall the comments of the author Antonsson and García Jr., assuring some that they will not buy the book and coming to ask Martin to dissociate himself professionally from them. Also shared a wire published in August, detailing the couple’s alleged racist behavior.

Antonsson and García Jr.’s detractors have unearthed old first blog posts that were published over a decade ago, complaining about having black actors in ‘Game of Thrones’ playing characters that Martin wrote as white, citing Nonso Anozie as an example, who plays Xaro Xhoan Daxos despite being described as a pale character in the novels. Soon after, Antonsson publicly celebrated the casting of a white actor, Ed Skrein, as Dario Naharis, instead of an actor from another ethnicity, as they said, which shocked some fans as well.

Something similar happened with “The Dragon’s House”. When it was announced that the cast would include black performers in roles of Valyrian descent (with Martin’s approval), Antonsson publicly stated that Steve Toussaint was a casting error, claiming that “There are no black Valyrians and they shouldn’t be in any series”.

After sparking the controversy on Twitter, the co-authors reacted through statements to Variety, where Antonsson assures he is not racist and García Jr. says he feels “attached for staying true to his vision of Martin’s original work”. On the other hand, Antonsson complains that fans are criticizing them “statements deliberately chosen out of context” and adds that it bothers him “to be branded a racist, when my priority was only the creation of worlds”. The author claims he has no problem with inclusive casting, but he believes it “Diversity must not come before history”. “If George had made the Valyrians black instead of white, as he suggested in his ‘Not a Blog’ in 2013, and this new series proposed that the Velaryons weren’t black, we would have the same problem and share the same opinion.”Garcia concludes.

Collaborators since the 90s

While the controversy surrounding Antonsson and García might interest Martin, it certainly wouldn’t have been so easy for him to part with them to avoid greater evils. And that’s it the author has worked closely with the couple for more than two decades. Self-described “Game of Thrones” superfans, Antonsson and Garcia created the Westeros.org online community in 1999 and were immediately hired by Martin as fact-checkers for “A Feast for Crows”, the fourth book in the series. Since then, both have continued to work with him, publishing the book ‘The World of Ice and Fire’ in 2014, also as co-authors with Martin.

As Antonsson also reveals to Variety, Martin “is very aware” of the discussions she and her husband had online with fans about inclusive casting and states that, for the author, “Arguing with people is useless”and that he did not ask them to stop expressing their views on the matter.