Video: Nathalie Emmanuel talks Game of Thrones on Jimmy Kimmel Live
By Dan Selcke
“I’m a fortress,” Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) said on a recent visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live. She was talking about spoilers, making damn sure Kimmel knew he couldn’t dig any story secrets out of her. Aw, nuts.
It was still a fun interview, though, as Emmanuel talked about what she was doing before getting on the show and explained the finer points of the Valyrian language. Watch it below:
The linguist Emmanuel mentions, David J. Peterson, also created the Dothraki language. (Well, technically he built a workable version of the language based on the snippets George R.R. Martin included in his books. Still: it was a lot of work.)
Emmanuel, who’s also appearing in the upcoming The Fate of the Furious, has been hitting the press trail pretty hard of late. She also spoke to the Evening Standard about body image. “It’s not something that had a huge hold on me, but to say I didn’t have certain insecurities or was worried about that, that would be untrue,” she said. “But for a few years now I’ve been like, ‘I look healthy, I look after myself.'”
Game of Thrones is known to include the odd nude scene — Emmanuel did one in season 4, when Missandei was bathing in the river as Grey Worm watched her. Emmanuel doesn’t regret the scene. “I feel like it was relevant to the storyline.”
"I’m not ashamed of my body in any way, it’s just a body, I have breasts like every woman and everything else that comes with my body is just my body. For me, the shock of it isn’t really there. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to get my kit off for any part that requires it, it has to feel appropriate."
For even more of Emmanuel, look no further than HBO’s new promo, which features her wearing the outfit she’ll don in season 7.
A couple of newer Game of Thrones cast members are also sounding off, although they’re staying as silent as Emmanuel when it comes to plot details. “I can’t say much else about Game of Thrones at this stage,” Tom Hopper told the Gold Coast Bulletin. “It’s very present, everyone in Britain seems to be watching it.” Hopper will be playing the role of Dickon Tarly, Sam’s younger brother, in season 7.
Finally, new cast member Jim Broadbent weighed in on the new season, although he was similarly reserved. “I can’t really talk about my role but I was just mighty impressed by the producers and the production,” he said. The ironic thing about this is that Broadbent, an Oscar-winner, already spilled some beans about his part in an earlier interview, revealing that he’s playing “an archmaester” and that he shares several scenes with Sam. Still, it’s never too late to course correct.
"I hadn’t seen much of it before but I’ve got the full box-set now. Seventy hours of TV to watch. I didn’t have time to watch it all before … that’s going to be a long weekend or two."
You have an interesting journey ahead of you, Mr. Broadbent.
We’ll see more of all these folks when season 7 debuts on July 16, 2017.