--- title: Game of Thrones Star Lena Headey on Refugee Crisis interview description: Lena Headey — who plays Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones — is continuing to advocate for migrants seeking asylum in Europe. canonical: https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-24T17:06:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:47:11.002Z og:title: Game of Thrones Star Speaks Out on 'Dehumanizing' Refugee Crisis og:description: "It’s not a 'problem,' it’s people" og:url: https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c09194f6c5026f/6988ca5786f68ea5f56e463c/lena-headey-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Lena Headey Refugees og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Game of Thrones Star Speaks Out on 'Dehumanizing' Refugee Crisis twitter:description: "It’s not a 'problem,' it’s people" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c09194f6c5026f/6988ca5786f68ea5f56e463c/lena-headey-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Game of Thrones_ Star Lena Headey Speaks Out Against Refugee Crisis: 'It’s Not a "Problem," It’s People' > Sponsored content. 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As hundreds of thousands of refugees made their way to Europe, they've kept in touch with their families using apps like WhatsApp. These are the messages they sent back._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 24, 2017 5:06 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 24, 2017 5:06 PM UTC [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4429346/game-of-thrones-season-7-cast-news/)star [Lena Headey](http://time.com/4454792/game-of-thrones-cersei-lena-headey-2/) is [continuing to advocate](http://time.com/4596632/game-of-thrones-lena-headey-migrants-greece/) for [migrants seeking asylum](http://time.com/4683608/germany-migrants-attacks-hate-crime/) in Europe. The 43-year-old actress — who plays Cersei Lannister on the HBO drama — recently spoke to [_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/24/lena-headey-game-of-thrones?CMP=twt%5Fgu) about the “dehumanizing” treatment of refugees attempting to enter the United Kingdom. “It’s horrendous that after the journeys that these refugees go through, they are then treated immediately with suspicion and fear,” she said. “I get it, this is a crisis with so many levels, but we have also lost sight of the fact it’s not a ‘problem,’ it’s people, it’s other human beings. And we’re dehumanizing them.” Headey — who [visited Syrian refugee camps](http://time.com/4391768/game-of-thrones-cast-visits-syrian-refugees-greece/) in Greece last summer with co-stars Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) — also weighed in on the frustrations surrounding her work to improve the migration process. “People look at actors who speak out and say, ‘oh well, it’s so easy for them.’ There are a lot of people who are saying, ‘it’s all right for you, you champagne socialist,’ but that’s f—ing bollocks,” she said. “I’m just a human being with a conscience. My kids need to know that I gave a s—t — that’s what drives me most.” ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/"},"headline":"Game of Thrones Star Lena Headey Speaks Out Against Refugee Crisis: 'It’s Not a \"Problem,\" It’s People'","datePublished":"2017-04-24T17:06:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T08:47:11.002Z","description":"Lena Headey — who plays Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones — is continuing to advocate for migrants seeking asylum in Europe.","url":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","celebrities","TV","Refugee crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c09194f6c5026f/6988ca5786f68ea5f56e463c/lena-headey-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23c09194f6c5026f/6988ca5786f68ea5f56e463c/lena-headey-refugees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lena Headey Refugees","caption":"Lena Headey attends the premiere for season six of Game Of Thrones at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 10, 2016 in Hollywood City.","creditText":"Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/","name":"Game of Thrones Star Lena Headey Speaks Out Against Refugee Crisis: 'It’s Not a \"Problem,\" It’s People'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME LightBox: Syria via WhatsApp","description":"As hundreds of thousands of refugees made their way to Europe, they've kept in touch with their families using apps like WhatsApp. These are the messages they sent back.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FXPByQNR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-28T03:18:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FXPByQNR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/","duration":"PT3M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4752682/game-of-thrones-lena-heady-refugee-crisis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```