"Emerald City," which debuts on Friday, Jan. 6 on NBC, has received tons of comparisons to "Game of Thrones." But its star Adria Arjona has expressed unhappiness with being likened to the highly-popular fantasy series on HBO.
The actress said that while she is a fan of "Game of Thrones," her new show is far from being similar to it. "Emerald City" is an adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz," but all of its 10 episodes have been translated on television as a dark adult-fantasy by director Tarsem Singh.
"Tarsem has made such a beautiful magical world of its own," Adria Arjona said, according to Indie Wire. Her statement suggested that it would be unfair for "Emerald City" to be tagged as a "Game of Thrones" clone.
Adria Arjona's opinion has the support of the producer of "Emerald City," David Schulner. He said that while both shows belong to the adult-fantasy genre, he cites "Emerald City" as "less bleak and 100 percent less rape-y" than "Game of Thrones."
#EmeraldCity draws near. pic.twitter.com/Ic4AtirfX4
— Emerald City (@NBCEmeraldCity) November 18, 2016
Meanwhile, the premiere of "Emerald City" will cover two hours on Jan. 6, beginning at 9:00 p.m. on NBC, Spoiler TV reports. The pilot episode introduces Dorothy Gale (Adria Arjona) who gets transported into a magical and mysterious place.
She meets the kingdom's ruler, the Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio). He has prevented the use of magic, which has angered the witches. As Dorothy hopes to return to her home, she also meets a mesh of interesting characters in the Land of Oz. The show also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Gerran Howell, Jordan Loughran, Mido Hamada, Joely Richardson, Ana Ularu and Florence Kasumba.
"Emerald City" was originally developed for the 2013-2014 TV season. Delays in production have pushed the show's launch further, until NBC decided to greenlight it for this midseason. This adaptation and re-imagining of the classic story of "The Wizard of Oz" is unlike anything that has been done before. Watch the teaser below.
