The Empire’s Aditya Seal told show’s designer costumes looked ‘very Game of Thrones-ish’: ‘He hadn’t seen GOT’

Actor Aditya Seal, who plays Humayun on Disney+ Hotstar’s The Empire, has said that the show more than lived up to his expectations, but admitted that he was ‘a little worried’ when it was compared to HBO’s Game of Thrones when the trailer dropped. 

In an interview, Aditya said that both director Mitakshara Kumar and the show’s costume designer hadn’t seen Game of Thrones before they began working on The Empire. At one point, he told the costume designer that the costumes looked ‘very Game of Thrones-ish’ and he was surprised to hear that.

He told a leading daily, “It’s the best compliment we could have got. Going into it, that was not the thought. My director, Mitakshara, she had not seen Game of Thrones before we shot for Empire, and the costume designer, Sheetal, he had not seen Game of Thrones.”

He continued, “Comparison is good, comparison to something like Game of Thrones is fabulous. I was a little worried when the trailer came out, and people started comparing it to Game of Thrones… I was a little worried that, that’s a very high standard you’re setting. I hope we are able to come somewhere close to it. And seeing the audience’s reaction, I think we’ve done a decent job at that.”

Also read: Ahead of The Empire, Kabir Khan says he’s ‘distressed’ by films that demonise Mughals: ‘They were nation-builders’

Critical reception for The Empire, however, hasn’t been too positive. The Hindustan Times review called it a ‘bloated, bulbous mess’, and the show currently has a 3.9/10 rating on IMDb, based on user-generated reactions. 

The Empire, created by Nikkhil Advani, also stars Kunal Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Dino Morea, Drashti Dhami, Rahul Dev, Sahher Bambba and others.