Reviews on The Rings of Power Season 1 have been utterly positive despite its departure from the original source material in Tolkien’s vision. Though the racist comments ceased at some point during the series premiere, the cast had to share and reflect upon experiencing such.
The Rings of Power Stars Share How They Dealt With Backlash Upon Airing
Speaking with Variety, The Rings of Power stars Ismael Cruz Córdova (Arondir), Sophia Nomvete (Princess Disa), and Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Miriel) discussed how they dealt with it. Check out their full comments below:
Cruz emphasized the power of making their appearances on screen, praising that this is the impact of TV shows on the audiences, “The fact that it hit that nerve, and that our being in it created such a response, just brings attention to the greatness of fantasy, the greatness of Lord of the Rings. Did it become a bit too much? Absolutely! It’s taken air time from the depth of who we are as artists. But it just shows you where we are in the world and how much work we still have to do.” The actor continues on to say how grateful they were, “That it’s US who are able to recalibrate, break form, reshape and make history.”
As for Addai-Robinson, the actor compared the situation to a pendulum in terms of its function, relating it to how society should acknowledge what exactly is happening. “In order to not have such an impact, the pendulum has to swing. We are right in the middle of that process. We just want to normalize. That level of distraction or aggression that was put towards us — it’s been a painful journey to get there — but it has elevated us. It has put us in a position where there will be a plaque one day when the pendulum has swung where it needs to be.”
Also Read: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Answers Racist Backlash on the Show
‘We Still Get A Lot of Controversy,’ Sophia Nomvete Says
Lastly, Nomvete addresses the underlying question if the show still receives a lot of controversy by saying the actors had to prove themselves ‘worthy’ of the role despite passing auditions to become their characters in the first place:
We have a long way to go in terms of normalizing which actors get which role, but still, it is quite relieving to see that The Rings of Power cast, Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who), Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid), and Rachel Zegler (Snow White) are off to represent their designated characters for their shows, take a little spin of their own that make their characters uniquely theirs. Also Read: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Showrunners Confirm Sauron’s Identity Was Confirmed in His First Scene
