Nathalie Emmanuel drops a Meghan Markle Easter egg in Four Weddings and a Funeral—here’s why
Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings and a Funeral is officially here, and it’s bringing some fresh new updates to the classic rom-com. The 10-episode limited series stars Nathalie Emmanuel (aka Game of Thrones’s Missandei of Naath), and we’re especially excited to see what she brings to the show. Apparently, Emmanuel contributed a Meghan Markle reference to Four Weddings and a Funeral.
In a July 31st interview with Glamour, Emmanuel talked about a moment in the series in which her character, Maya, jokes about applying to be the “decoy” for the Duchess of Sussex. The line ends with a quip that the royal family has already met its “diversity quota.” Emmanuel revealed that she ad-libbed the line, and she said she got the idea because people often compare her to Markle, who, like Emmanuel, is mixed-race. Emmanuel said she doesn’t always enjoy the comparison.
"The thing is, it has really annoyed me in the past that people have compared me to her because I get tagged in photos all the time of some biracial woman, like, 'Is this you?'" she said.
She added:
"Because it gets brought up so much, I think I felt quite strongly that if anyone’s going to make that reference, it should be me about myself, as opposed to other people saying it to me who don’t look like me."
The comparisons go both ways, apparently. The Game of Thrones actress mentioned a scene from Suits in which Markle’s character, Rachel Zane, talks about being told she looks like Missandei (whom they rudely refer to just as Khaleesi’s “translator”).
"When I first saw that, I thought, Oh my God, I can see we have similarities, but now I’m just like…she looks like a different person," Emmanuel said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FA1xhLWwH0
While we appreciate the nod to the Duchess of Sussex in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Emmanuel’s comments are a reminder of how annoying these remarks can be.
