A Knight Of The Seven Kingdomsactor, Tanzyn Crawford, has spoken for the first time about some of the backlash she has received due to her race.
The Australian actor plays Tanselle, a travelling performer from Dorne who charms lead Dunk (Peter Claffey). Being a prominent non-white character in the Game Of Thrones prequel has led to some online abuse aimed at her, and Crawford has spoken about it in a recent interview with Wonderland magazine.
“It was intimidating to step into something that people are so connected to, love so much and have a lot of opinions about,” she said. “I definitely did get some negativity around race, but at the end of the day, I’m employed — and I’m following my dreams.”
She then shared that she was encouraged by the creator of the original stories, George R.R. Martin, who said the actor met his original vision for the character. “[Martin told me] ‘You’re exactly what I pictured [for Tanselle]’,” Crawford said, before explaining what she likes about playing the role.
“The beauty of Tanselle in this series is she’s a softer outlet. The rest of the show is very manly, quite harsh and brutal,” she explained. “I think she’s self-confident and has her own little passions and worlds that are very separate from everyone else. Of course, her storyline involves Dunk, but she has her own thing going on.”
Season two of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is in development, although Tanselle does not appear in the novella that particular season is based on (The Sworn Sword). Crawford was recently cast in the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of Assassin’s Creed video game.
Elsewhere, it’s been announced that Game Of Thrones will be getting a movie spin-off, set before the original show and developed by the creator of House Of Cards.
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