House of the Dragon actor Steve Toussaint responds to the racist backlash he has received for playing Corlys Velaryon. After the well-documented Game of Thrones season 8 backlash left the media franchise reeling, Ryan J. Condal and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin brought in director Miguel Sapochnik as co-showrunner (with Condal) on their next endeavor: House of the Dragon. Set some 200 years before Game of Thrones, the prequel depicts the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war within the ruling House Targaryen.
A Song of Ice and Fire lore spells out the graphic history of the lengthy battle, primarily between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Prince Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) over succession to the throne upon the death of King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). House of the Dragon season 1 seeks to explore the events leading to this eventual power struggle, establishing the relationships between its key players. One integral relationship is that between Rhaenyra and Corlys Velaryon, played by Toussaint. Corlys' casting drew criticism from some fans of the books, who assumed Corlys was written white, while Toussaint is Black.
At a House of the Dragon roundtable interview attended by Screen Rant, Toussaint addresses the backlash he has faced about his playing Corlys. He says he was unaware of the character's race until he obtained the part and saw an artist's rendition of Corlys as a white man. Toussaint claims he has never cared about why Condal and Sapochnik cast a Black man for the role, but he is happy that he earned the opportunity. Check out the full quote below:
To be frank with you, the first time I realized anything about this character's color in the books was when my name was announced as the lead. And then there was all this backlash, and all this stuff coming up. I think one of the first things I saw was someone had put an artist's impression of Corlys from the books next to my picture and said something like, "Why?" And so I was like, "Right, I see. This character was meant to be white, is he?"
That was the first time I saw it. It was never a consideration. I never wasted my time in bothering to ask Ryan and Miguel why they cast me. I don't give a damn. I was happy that I got the part; I decided I got the part because I earned it. And anybody who has an issue with it? They'll have an issue with it, man. It's naught to do with me.
The artwork in question is an interpretation by Eve Venture from the Unseen Westeros exhibition that once took place in Germany, and has since become a premium artbook. Like many peoples of Valyrian descent in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire universe, Venture's artwork shows Corlys as a fair-skinned man with silver hair. The source material, however, never explicitly mentions his skin color, so Toussaint's response to the racist backlash is appropriate. Furthermore, it is the British actor's most prevalent role in his 28-year acting career, an accomplishment that he understandably wishes to celebrate.
Ultimately, the casting criticism appears rooted in racism rather than a genuine consideration of authenticity regarding the adaptation's source material, and Toussaint handles it perfectly. Realizing that the character's skin color was never directly mentioned and hardly makes any difference to the story, he proudly proclaims that he earned the role and puts the onus on the critics to deal with their issues. After all, in a fantasy world not unlike the diverse landscape of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a direct competitor to House of the Dragon, the characters have far grander things to worry about than the color of one another's skin.