Game of Thrones' final season, which premieres on Sunday, July 16, is fast approaching. Looking back on the past six epic seasons of plotting, treachery, murder, battle, and Tyrion, there's something that still doesn't sit right with many viewers: The show has a problem with diversity.

Most of the main characters in the show are white. Of the seven "great houses" of Westeros (Stark, Lannister, Tully, Arryn, Baratheon, Tyrell, and Martell), only the Martells, loosely based on the rulers of Moorish Spain, have non-white skin and speak with non-British accents. Many of the people of color who are named and have speaking roles are freed slaves (like Grey Worm and Missandei) or portrayed as "noble savages", like the Dothraki. And it doesn't have to be this way.

George R.R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books that Game of Thrones is based on, has acknowledged the series' limited diversity.

Also the show's co-executive producer, Martin has explained that his fantasy world is based on Medieval Europe, and the politics in the show are inspired by the War of the Roses.

"Westeros around 300 A.C. is nowhere near as diverse as 21st century America, of course," he wrote on his blog in 2014. "But with that being said, I do have some 'characters of color' who will have somewhat larger roles in Winds of Winter [the sixth novel in the series]. Admittedly, these are secondary and tertiary characters, though not without importance. Of course, I am talking about the books here, and you are talking about the show, which is a thing apart. I do think HBO and [show creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are doing what they can to promote diversity as well, as witness the casting of Areo Hotah." He goes on to note that "of course, Hotah IS a guard...but he is also a viewpoint character in the novels, a brave and loyal warrior."

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the show's casting director Nina Gold responded to critics who believe the show isn't diverse enough. “Even though these are fantasy worlds, there are tribes, families, and dynasties. Once you’ve put one mark on the catalyst for the Targaryens or the Starks, you really owe it to the, oh I can’t think of the word, but the authenticity of trying to make them a family somehow," she said. "In the books, the Targaryens are these white, white people with silver hair and violet eyes. The Starks are kind of rough, like Northern English people. The Lannisters are golden, aren’t they? We really believed we were doing it like the books, basically.”

She continued: “I guess I don’t know what to really say about it, because it’s not like there’s no diversity in the casting in Game of Thrones. We’ve turned Grey Worm and Missandei into really deep characters. I really do believe in diversity in casting, and always have done. I don’t feel I have to defend it, really.”

Essentially, the excuse for the lack of diversity in Game Of Thrones is that the show's producers want to stay true to the book series.

On the surface, this seems reasonable. But actually, it's kind of bullshit.

First, let's talk about just a few of the times Hollywood totally whitewashed an adaptation. They cast Emma Stone in 2015's Aloha to play a character who was a quarter Chinese and a quarter Hawaiian. Rooney Mara assumed the role of Native American Tiger Lily in 2015's Pan. More recently, Scarlett Johannson played the main role in 2017's Ghost in the Shell, a movie based on a Japanese manga series. It's not uncommon for producers to cast white actors in roles originally written for diverse individuals when it suits them to do so.