Elijah Wood supports diverse ‘Rings of Power’ cast after racism backlash

LONDON – J.R.R. Tolkien has said that his vision of Middle-earth, the fantastical world in his acclaimed “The Lord of the Rings” novels, reflects his “wonder and delight in the earth as it is.”

Those who have taken up the latest television series inspired by his imagination are firing back against a torrent of racial abuse they say their Black acting stars have received and doubling down on protecting the British author’s multifaceted world.

Creators and cast of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” which debuted on Sept. 1, issued a statement last week in “solidarity and against the relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subject to on a daily basis.”

“JRR Tolkien created a world which, by definition, is multi-cultural. A world in which free peoples from different races and cultures join together, in fellowship, to defeat the forces of evil,” it said. “Our world has never been all white, fantasy has never been all white. Middle-earth is not all white.”

The statement also championed “fans of colour who are themselves being attacked simply for existing in this fandom. We see you, your bravery, and endless creativity,” it added. “You are valid, you are loved, and you belong.”

The sentiment was echoed by former stars and hobbits: actors Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played Frodo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin, respectively, in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy released in 2001.

Wood shared an image on Twitter with castmates wearing T-shirts with Elvish writing on them, stating: “You are all welcome here.” The move was repeated by Astin, who wore a baseball cap featuring the same wording.

In a rare act of multiverse alliance, the Star Wars Twitter account added its support, writing: “From Middle-earth to a galaxy far, far away … #YouAreAllWelcomeHere.” Black actors John Boyega and Moses Ingram have previously spoken out against online racist abuse they have received for appearing in the popular sci-fi franchise.

Cast members in the new series have decried racist abuse they have faced since appearing in the eight-part show.

“We belong in Middle-earth,” tweeted Latino actor Ismael Cruz Cordova, who plays elf warrior Arondir in the Prime Video series. “Looking for zero favors but to live with the same chances to dream and thrive as anyone else,” he wrote. “If you’ve ever felt discarded, marginalized, silenced – you are my people. And this moment is yours too!”

Black British actor Lenny Henry, like author Tolkien, hails from the diverse English city of Birmingham. He plays a hobbit prototype, Sadoc Burrows, a Harfoot in the series. Often in the fantasy genre, “you don’t see yourself as a Black person,” he told the British edition of GQ magazine. But he said that with this show, “things are being reconfigured.”

Actress Whoopi Goldberg also went viral online earlier this week, remarking on the backlash toward the make-believe show.

“Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people too? Is that what you’re telling me? … What is wrong with y’all?” she said on ABC’s “The View” talk show. “We would like to see as many people represented in fantasy as exist,” she added, chiding those who “have problems because there are Black hobbits.”

Tolkien “based identity very strongly on language, and that’s how he saw culture,” Nick Groom, author of “Twenty-First-Century Tolkien: What Middle-Earth Means To Us Today,” told The Washington Post on Thursday.

“There is a lot of racial diversity in Tolkien’s different species,” which include humans, elves, hobbits and dwarves, among others, he said.

“Tolkien embraces racial diversity,” said the professor of English literature at the University of Macao. “There are three races of hobbits,” he noted, with some described as being “browner of skin.”

Writing in the 1930s, Tolkien, who was born in South Africa, was “well aware that color of skin can be a differentiating characteristic,” and he included that in his works, Groom said. Popular depictions in paintings, plays and on-screen, however, have “tended to be very White,” he added, influencing audience perceptions.

The series debuted to an audience of more than 25 million people globally on its first day, making it the biggest premiere in the history of Prime Video, the company said.

“It is somehow fitting that Tolkien’s stories – among the most popular of all time, and what many consider to be the true origin of the fantasy genre – have led us to this proud moment,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement after the show’s launch last week. She added that the “tens of millions of fans watching … are our true measure of success.”

The eight-part series delves into the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history and is set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Executive producer Lindsey Weber told The Washington Post in an interview this month that the show would cover the forging of the rings, the rise of the dark lord Sauron and eventually the last alliance of elves and men. She said the series was made for those who have never read the books but that it also has baked-in details for “the die-hard fans, the scholars of the legendarium.”

It takes fantasy fans on a prequel journey and is likely to run for 50 hours over five seasons, according to showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, with a total budget expected to top $1 billion.

The series comes 21 years after the first film in Jackson’s theatrical trilogy. Like that film, it was also shot mostly in New Zealand.