The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power officially comes out in defense of its cast members of color amid sickening racist backlash online. The highly anticipated fantasy series premiered on September 1 and has garnered a bevy of positive reviews, with many highlighting the cast, storyline, music, and cinematography as positives. Prime Video has already renewed The Rings of Power for a second season, which is set to begin filming this October.
Set thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power will cover the events of Middle-earth's Second Age. The series features iconic characters, such as Galadriel and Elrond, alongside newcomers to the Middle-earth mythology. While this is an exciting moment for fans of author J.R.R. Tolkien's work, The Rings of Power has been partially overshadowed by the aforementioned racist backlash. So-called Tolkien enthusiasts have taken issue with the casting of people of color, a response that has become sadly common when it comes to beloved properties. Many have spoken out against these attacks, including Neil Gaiman and several Lord of the Rings stars.
In a new statement shared to social media, The Rings of Power condemns the cowardly harassment. It writes that Tolkein's work is about uniting people of different cultures for common good, and how fantasy has never been all about white men. The series gives love to all the fans of color who've been caught in the wave of racist attacks, explaining how their support makes the fandom a richer and stronger place. See the tweet below:
Since The Rings of Power is setting out to do something new with Tolkien's canon, there was always going to be backlash from certain people. However, the threats and harassment made towards actors is both backward and disrespectful to Tolkien's legacy. It doesn't matter what the source material says, or how previous adaptations have done it. Middle-earth is a fantasy world where anything can happen, so to say women and BIPOCs don't have a part in that is absurd and insulting. The Rings of Power may have taken a little too long to respond to this backlash, but their statement is both strong and affirming.
It's unfortunate that so many conversations when discussing media are now dominated by the cacophony of the internet, that silences any real discussion in analyzing the merits of entertainment. The backlash isn't even about The Rings of Power itself, but is instead just another pointless distraction from those who are unwilling to look outside their own world. In the end, The Rings of Power will become an excellent addition to The Lord of the Rings canon thanks to all the talented people that bring it to life, and the series' confidence in that belief is inarguable.
The Rings of Power releases new episodes Thursday nights on Prime Video.
Source: The Lord of the Rings on Prime/Twitter