‘Game of Thrones’ cast members join campaign to support Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees have found an unlikely ally in Cersei Lannister.

In news that is bound to irritate Donald Trump, the cast of “Game of Thrones� is partnering with HBO and the International Rescue Committee on a campaign in support of displaced people around the globe.

The goal of the campaign, called Rescue Has No Boundaries, is to raise awareness and money on behalf of refugees fleeing from the civil war in Syria, which began five years ago this month.

The campaign is led by actress Lena Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister, the recently humiliated queen regent of the Seven Kingdoms, on the HBO hit series. A video released Monday opens with Headey speaking about “millions on the move, escaping war, famine and destruction� -- a reference not to “Game of Thrones’� many displaced characters but to the real-life global refugee crisis.

Other members of the sprawling cast, including Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) and Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton), appear in the video, which urges viewers to donate to the campaign and directs them to a website to learn more about the plight of the estimated 60 million refugees across the planet.

While “Game of Thrones,� a fantasy drama set in a mythical realm populated in part by dragons and the undead, does not deal with contemporary global politics, many of its central characters are refugees, including Daenerys Targaryen, born in exile, and the surviving Stark children, on the run from the Lannisters and their henchmen.

The IRC, a humanitarian organization founded by Albert Einstein in 1933, currently provides support to refugees within Syria and in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Serbia and Greece. The goal of the campaign is to raise $1 million for emergency relief.

“Our long-standing support of the IRC comes from a deep respect for the humanitarian work they do and a fundamental understanding of their mission to get much needed relief to millions of refugees displaced throughout the world,� said Richard Plepler, HBO chairman and chief executive in a press statement.

Follow @MeredithBlake on Twitter.

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