According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power star Sophia Nomvete (Wednesday) speaks on fighting racist backlash. Since the release of the first season of the Prime Video series, many cast members have been very vocal over the racist backlash they have been receiving upon joining the show. Nomvete has recently opened up on the details of the experience. During The Hollywood Reporter’s second annual Raising Our Voices luncheon Nomvete spoke about her casting for the series and stated, “ it was a huge moment, both personally and professionally. And I think I kind of skipped in naively thinking that it’s gonna be great. I’m a dwarf, it’s gonna be such fun.”
Nomvete continued, “When the announcement came out and pictures went up about just our faces of who we were playing, I was statistically the most attacked cast member of the entire show. There were N-bombs, I had no place here. ‘You’re too fat, you’re too black. Why are you here?’ I had one that was actually very polite, who said, ‘I’m sure that you’re a wonderful actress and a really lovely person. I just, I don’t think you should be part of this, it’s not right. If you could potentially just send a letter to Amazon with your resignation, I’d be very grateful. I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to do that, I can’t.’ I can’t afford to resign for you, so sadly I’m here to stay,” even as her family was threatened.’’
According to The Hollywood Reporter, after all the backlash Nomvete decided to stay on the series saying, “I realized that my place in this show is not just a celebration, it is an act of defiance against a reality that is simply not true, which is that we have no place on screens or in fantasy spaces.”
The actress said, “I realized that for her, and for the future of our industry and the generation, it is a must that I stand in my power and my light and do as much as I can with this character. And so I marched to the showrunners and I begged them to make this moment matter. I begged them not to make her subservient or just the wife-of or the funny fat friend. I begged them to make her quite a sexual titan.”
She continued, “I went through the seven stages of grief by reading some of the comments, and then understood the assignment. I understood the assignment, and that was to help people understand and to embrace them and love them — you would never disregard a child if they were scared. They’re scared. They’re frightened because they haven’t seen us before. So in that moment and throughout this show, I’ve made it my mission to ease their fear, and to let them understand and to help educate them that it’s OK, that we can tell a story, that we can be here and the show will be better for it, that our industry and our world will be better for it.’’
The first season of The Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power is available on Prime Video.