The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s Sophia Nomvete, best known for bringing the character of Disa to life, has spoken out about “statistically” receiving the most racial abuse amongst the cast.
The Rings of Power was one of the biggest TV shows of last year, but the series didn’t exactly have the smoothest of rides. Some characters were criticised for their “lazy” and “offensive” accents, and the series slightly lost out on ratings compared to rival series House of the Dragon. Recently, during the filming of season two, PETA instructed the show to stop using real horses after one died on set, plus the series has been sued by a fanfiction writer (although their claims seem a little farfetched). Amidst all of this, several cast members were unfortunately subject to racist abuse and Sophia Nomvete has spoken out about the experience.
Take a look at this epic LEGO The Lord of the Rings Mordor build.
Nomvete spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the abhorrent abuse she’d faced, explaining, “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.'”
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She continued, “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’s character, Disa, is the first female dwarf of colour to be featured in The Lord of the Rings universe. Rightfully so, Nomvete described her casting as “a huge moment, both personally and professionally.”
“I realised 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. [...] I realised 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.”
Nomvete will reprise her role as Disa in the upcoming second season.
Topics: The Lord Of The Rings, The Rings of Power, TV And Film, Amazon