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"Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin has defended Chilean actor Pedro Pascal&amp;#039;s casting as Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper. Martin responded to a fan&amp;#039;s complaints on his official blog that the Martell clan&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;darker features and unique culture&amp;quot; from his novels should be reflected on-screen.  &amp;quot;I wasn&amp;#039;t present for Pedro Pascal&amp;#039;s audition, but I understand that he really killed it with his reading,&amp;quot; Martin wrote. &amp;quot;So I suspect that he will turn out to be a wonderful Red Viper.&amp;quot; The author also praised Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss for employing &amp;quot;a racially and ethnically diverse cast&amp;quot; on the series. &amp;quot;It is true that we&amp;#039;ve lost several black characters who appear in the novels,&amp;quot; he acknowledged. &amp;quot;But to balance that, characters like Salladhor Saan (Lucian Msamati) and Xaro Xhoan Daxos (Nonso Anozie) - both white in the books - have been played by black actors.&amp;quot;  It was recently reported that Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers) is to return to Game of Thrones to helm its fourth season finale, having previously directed season two&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Blackwater&amp;#039;. The series airs on HBO in the US and on Sky Atlantic in the UK. &amp;gt; Game of Thrones casts Pedro Pascal as the Red Viper Watch a promo for the Game of Thrones season three finale below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/game-of-thrones/news/a496118/game-of-thrones-creator-defends-red-viper-casting/>