When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power released its first season two years ago, Ismael Cruz Córdova was met with “vicious” backlash over his casting, and the LOTR prequel was review bombed because folks were upset with how Tolkien’s world was depicted. Now, with Season 2 of Rings of Power on the horizon the Arondir actor is opening up about being “the first elf that wasn’t white,” and why he’s loved the discourse that has come from his casting.
Ahead of the second season’s premiere on the 2024 TV schedule, Ismael Cruz Córdova took part in EW’s Brave Warriors panel at San Diego Comic-Con. During it, he addressed the backlash that surrounded the show and him last season, explaining:
My character is not in the lore of the Lord of the Rings, and that was an issue for some people.
The Lord of the Rings movies don’t feature elves that are played by people of color, and the prequel’s cast featured multiple actors from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, including Córdova. During the season, the racist backlash caused a “shift” in conversation about the show and representation. To that point, the Arondir actor explained that he “loved” that he pinched a nerve with this discourse, saying:
[It was] a big controversy of me being the first elf that wasn’t white. I loved the nerve that I pinched. I really do. I was so excited to create something new. A lot of people speaking on behalf of Tolkien, I don’t know if they understand the spirit of Tolkien. His work speaks of the times.
Back in 2022, Nazanin Boniadi, who played Bronwyn spoke about this idea of Tolkien’s image while speaking with Mashable, saying that Rings of Power is “Tolkien’s image of fellowship” and a representation of the world we live in today. She said that this was best exemplified by having a diverse cast from all sorts of backgrounds, and Córdova reiterated the point in a lot of ways recently.
Continuing to talk about their series, how it’s evolved and the power of the fantasy genre, the actor said:
We work with these deep existential questions, and those questions change with the times. We can’t retell something like Lord of the Rings today, 2024, without introducing different existential questions, and that comes in the form of character.
Overall, Ismael Cruz Córdova is incredibly proud to play the elf Arondir, and he made the point of how impactful representation is in everything, specifically in his case, the world of fantasy:
It is necessary to revise things and represent and exist. I think a lot of people look at us to affirm their own existence, so I’m happy people can look at that and look at any of us and see themselves in this beautiful world we all should belong in — fantasy.
Representation is incredibly important, and Rings of Power has made a point of casting a diverse group of actors to play the characters of Middle-earth. Pretty soon we’ll get to see them on our screens again too, which is so exciting! While the discourse surrounding Season 1 was harsh, and I’m sure painful for the cast, they handled it with grace, and have spoken about it with so much poise.
Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power will premiere on Thursday, August 29, and you can stream it and the first installment with a Prime Video subscription.