Coming off a massive hit like Game of Thrones, Nathalie Emmanuel knew she had to choose her next TV show wisely. After spending years by Daenerys Targaryan’s side as Missandei, it was finally time to move on. “I read lots and lots of scripts,” Emmanuel tells EW. “You’re used to having such a standard as Game of Thrones.” And it wasn’t until she read the script for Hulu’s Four Weddings and a Funeral that she was, as she puts it, “blown away.”
Helen Sloan/HBO; Jay Maidment/Hulu
“It’s so good and so funny! And I was already into it because I heard the name Mindy Kaling and I went, ‘Well duh of course I’m going to read that,’” Emmanuel says with a laugh. “I was very excited when that came along because it’s so far removed from what I just finished. It’s much more light-hearted and fun and it was a challenge for me in a whole different way. Because that’s ultimately what I want is to be challenged in a new way.”
The biggest draw of the role of Maya — an American senatorial campaign worker who starts to fall for her best friend’s boyfriend — was just how different she was from Missandei. “As an actor, what often can happen is you get super typecast and you end up just doing the same kind of thing and then you get bored. I was like, ‘This is so far removed from anything that I’ve done before.’ I’ve done a bit of comedy but it was fun to explore a whole new character in a whole new genre. I hope people enjoy how different it is.”
Four Weddings and a Funeral is available on Hulu now.
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