Nathalie Emmanuel on Why ‘GOT’ Co-Star, Emilia Clarke Defended Her

In a new interview with Vogue, Nathalie Emmanuel has come forward and said she will never forget Game of Thrones set.

The actress revealed what it was like to play the role of Missandei on the HBO show. Nathalie revealed that she gave Game of Thrones her all. After stumbling upon the casting of GOT, she studied for the audition and watched a million videos to nail her character.

Nathalie’s character Missandei was a translator to Daenerys Targaryen on the show. Because of which the actress had to prepare herself for the fictional language. Nathalie reveals, “Once I landed the role, I got completely thrown in at the deep end – especially when it came to languages.”

She said that her character was this great linguist which made her really committed to learning Valyria. Talking about the language, she said there is high Valyria and low Valyria which are as different as Latin and Italian. The actress further appreciated David J Peterson, who created the languages for the HBO hit series. She revealed that she used to be obsessive and show creators, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, told her only one person knows the right pronounciation. The actress revealed that even then she wanted to get it right.

Nathalie also admits that not all part of filming was positive for her. She recalled one specific moment when Emilia Clarke defended her. Clarke defended her when a remark was made over her revealing costume. Talking about her equation with Emilia, she said they were like a house on fire from the beginning.

Emilia Defended Nathalie Against Sexism

Nathalie recalls when she joined Game of Thrones, Emilia was already shooting it since a few years. Nathalie said Emilia was definitely ready for some female energy to enter the sets with her. The actress further reveals that both of them used to look out for each other. She said, “If you’re the only girls on a male-dominated set, it bonds you in a certain way.”

The actress explained that in season one, her costumes were a bit revealing. “In my first season, my costume was pretty revealing, and there was an incident with an extra who made a comment about it on set – I mean, typical – and Emilia straightaway had my back,” she added. “It got handled.”

Nathalie says she has given a lot of thought to the way her character died, amid the Black Lives Matter Movement. And she also thought about being the only black female lead of the show. The actress revealed that she reflected a lot more on race and diversity generally.

She further said if there is a show like Game of Thrones ever again then representation has to be a part of the conversation from the beginning. The actress continued, “That way, there’s no single person who has to represent every other person of color”. Nathalie revealed that she used to have this conversation with her co-star, Jacob Anderson. Jacob was the only other non-white character of the show.

She revealed, “We were always really conscious of how much our being part of Game of Thrones mattered to people. It made us really protective of Missandei and Grey Worm.”

Back in September 2018, Emilia revealed what it was like filming the series’ final scenes at HBO’s Emmy Party. “We’ve just been making the best season ever,” she teased at the time, laughing and reiterating, “Best season ever!”

Fans know what she meant now, as the final season was met with many mixed reviews. Some liked it and said it was a justified ending while most of the fans criticized the show. Fans said they would have made a better story than the creators.

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