‘The Rings of Power’ Galadriel Actor Morfydd Clark Speaks Out Against Diversity Backlash
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is in its first season on Amazon Prime Video. While many are enjoying the latest adventure in Middle Earth, the series has been facing some backlash due to the diversity of its cast. Morfydd Clark, who plays Galadriel in The Rings of Power, recently spoke out about the backlash.
‘The Rings of Power’ has faced backlash due to the diversity of the cast
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power takes place thousands of years before the main events of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels. While The Rings of Power features many familiar characters, such as Galadriel and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), the series does introduce several new characters.
The new cast is very diverse and features different races within each group, such as black elves and black dwarves. However, this diverse cast has experienced backlash from Lord of the Rings fans. Many claim that Tolkien never intended the different groups to be any other color than white, and this goes against his vision. It is not the only fantasy series to receive this backlash, as House of the Dragon has experienced a similar reaction.
Galadriel actor addresses the diversity backlash toward ‘The Rings of Power’
In an interview with AnOther, Morfydd Clark addressed the backlash directed toward The Rings of Power. While she didn’t criticize the backlash directly, she says she supports the diverse cast featured in this series. The actor also is happy that kids will be able to see themselves within the various races within Middle Earth.
“I’m just happy that ten-year-olds will be seeing something that reflects our world,” Clark shares. “And while there was a backlash, there were also so many people who were really excited that there were female harfoots, female dwarves; Black elves, Latina elves; Black dwarves … There was a huge amount of joy to the casting, as well as the backlash.”
Diverse casts have been receiving backlash a lot recently. Many franchises, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones, have been experiencing controversial reactions toward casting people of diverse backgrounds. It should be noted that this is not a point of view expressed by a majority of fans, but many of the diversity opposers make their voices loud on the internet.
Other ‘Lord of the Rings’ actors speak out against the diversity backlash
To show their support, Lord of the Rings legacy actors have expressed their support toward the diverse cast in The Rings of Power. On Sept. 7, Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, shared a photo on his Twitter with fellow Middle Earth actors, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. The three actors are wearing a shirt with multi-colored ears and an Elvish phrase that says, “You are all welcome here.”
Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, also shared a photo on his Twitter of himself wearing a hat with the same symbol. The Lord of the Rings cast appears to be united that anyone is welcome in Middle Earth and should be able to enjoy the new series.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
