Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power, diversified the fantasy world created by J.R.R. Tolkien by casting several actors of color in key roles. As you might expect, this didn't sit well with some people.
We've seen a lot of the negativity online, and cast members - including Ismael Cruz Córdova (Arondir) - have already described some of the backlash they received after their roles were first announced, but it sounds like Sophia Nomvete, who plays Disa, had a particularly hard time of it.
As the franchise's first Dwarf woman - and woman of color - Nomvete says she was "statistically the most attacked cast member of the entire show.”
“There were N-bombs, I had no place here," she tells THR. "‘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.".
Nomvete made the decision to forge (no pun) ahead and not allow these comments to get to her, revealing that she "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 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,” Nomvete continued. “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.”
Nomvete will return as Disa for the second season of The Rings of Power, which is currently in production.