"Seven long-ass books": "SNL" reimagines "Game of Thrones" in South Centros

"Game of Thrones" meets the '91 Singleton classic "Boyz n the Hood"

Published April 12, 2015 11:07AM (EDT)

  (NBC)
(NBC)

Fox's "Empire" has long drawn comparisons to "Game of Thrones" -- with its prevailing lion imagery and broken-family plotline -- but, surprisingly, it wasn't 'Empire" that got a "Game of Thrones" cross-over on last night's "SNL" when the show's own Taraji P. Henson hosted. It was, instead, John Singleton's 1991 classic "Boyz n the Hood."

Here's the premise: There's an eighth kingdom, South Centros -- supposedly much like South Central Los Angeles -- where death (largely via crossbow) lurks around every corner for seemingly "no damn reason." Ice Cube (Kenan Thompson) and his people are at war with the Lannisters. The Nikolaj Coster-Waldau even casually strolls by on a horse at one point to instigate some fear.

In a moment of self-reflexive dialogue -- re: the horrors of violence and war -- we get this silly line: "It’s a long story. Some say too long. If it was a book, it’d be seven long-ass books.”

Watch the clip below:


By Colin Gorenstein

Colin Gorenstein is Salon's assistant editor of internet and viral content. Follow @colingorenstein or email cgorenstein@salon.com.

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