Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power’s Morfydd Clark takes on trolls for racially abusing black co-stars: ‘Shut up’

The new Lord of the Rings series is barely two weeks away from release. Titled The Rings of Power, the mega-budget series will premiere on Prime Video from September 2. The show boasts of a large ensemble cast and has been noted for including more diverse actors in lead roles, something that was absent in the source material–JRR Tolkien’s books. However, many online seem to have been riled up with the choice of casting people of colour for major characters in the show, with actors having received racist abuse as well. On Monday, the show’s star Morfydd Clark took to social media to criticise the treatment being meted out to her fellow actors. Also read: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer brings back Sauron

On Monday, Morfydd, who plays the elf Galadriel on the show, posted a short note on Instagram Stories. “Anyone sending hate to my black cast mates, get off my page, get off the internet, and shut up,” read the strongly-worded note. Apart from Morfydd, the show also stars Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Ismael Cruz Cordova among others.

The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy. According to the series synopsis, beginning in a time of relative peace, it follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth. Sauron, the antagonist of the original film trilogy, will feature prominently in the show.

The Rings of Power is based on the universe created by author JRR Tolkien in his books. Two trilogies have been made based on the books, grossing close to $6 billion together. The series is set to be the biggest in scale ever, with a reported budget of $400+ million for Season 1 alone.

Conceived by showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will begin streaming on Prime Video on September 2, with new episodes releasing every Friday.