on Irri and the lack of characterization in asoiaf: would you say that show (for however briefly she was in there) did a slightly better job of giving her a personality/characterization, or could that just be because she had someone portraying her?
I actually thought the show did have better characterization for Irri (as well as the potential for other Dothraki as well), and yes, it definitely falls to the fact that an actress was physically portraying her. The books are able to skim over things such as character tics, vocal variety, etc, because focusing on them would bog down the story; when it’s on screen, however, an actor can bring that forward within the looser limits of the script and the direction. In the books, it’s difficult to build a complex character out of what GRRM gives us, but on the show that’s the job of the actress and the camera.
Amrita Acharia, Irri’s actress, did a fantastic job with her character, despite lacking screen time. If they’d bothered to keep her alive, I could well see her becoming more well rounded and perhaps even more important. Unfortunately, the show cared even less about developing Daenerys’ handmaidens, and later proved the same regarding her Unsullied armies, freedmen, and new Dothraki allies.