It’s no secret that many viewers have offered some rather critical opinions on Amazon Prime Video’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerthroughout its first season. But Morfydd Clark appears to hold a surprisingly pragmatic view of such reactions.
WhileThe Rings of Power’s stars continue to suffer from racist attacksby fans, there are some legitimate concerns shared among the series' viewers. TheLord of the Ringsshow did come out of the gate swinging, boasting huge viewership numbers during its initial episodes. Unfortunately, those stats began to drop quickly as viewers lost interest over the season, with only 37% of US audiences and 45% of international crowds sticking around for the whole thing.
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Some credit that loss to a lack of cohesion and direction onThe Rings of Power’s part, with season 1 seemingly being a prohibitively expensive setup for the actual story. But Clark, who plays Galadriel, isn’t put off by these comments; she seems to welcome them. “I think you create art for it to be critiqued,” Clark explained in an interview withDen of Geek. “It doesn’t really exist as a piece of art if it’s not there to be looked at and discussed. I’ve been in a few horror films, and I’ve really loved the conversation about that. I think it’s kind of the same with fantasy, it taps into different parts of different people. So it’s been really interesting, actually. My sister’s very online and sends me the bits that she thinks I’ll find really interesting about people’s discussions of what they got from [The Rings of Power].”
However, this doesn’t mean Clark is letting the racist backlash againstThe Rings of Poweractors of color slide. “I do think there is a big difference between critique and abusing people,” Clark continued, calling out those using racism as an excuse to harass the show’s stars. “I’m really proud that the show is cast the way it is and that there’s diversity in our cast. And it’s been wonderful now to have people critiquing it as a piece of art.” The harassment got so bad that evenLord of the Ringsmovie actors spoke up against the backlash.
The Rings of Powerseason 1 mostly sets up a more directed story for season 2. Alongside Clark, it stars Markella Kavenagh, Robert Aramayo, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Nazanin Boniadi, Tyroe Muhafidin, Charles Edwards, Daniel Weyman, Owain Arthur, Charlie Vickers, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Maxim Baldry, and even that doesn’t cover all the important characters. They star as figures new and returning in a Middle-earth set before the originalLord of the Rings,wherethe Dark Lord Sauron has seemingly vanished. But things aren’t as they seem, and by the end of the season, each of these characters' lives have been irreversibly changed as Sauron himself has returned and destroyed a once great kingdom of Men to create his new land of Mordor.
The Rings of Powerwriters will take legitimate criticismsto heart for season 2. So it looks like those concerned that their good-faith complaints may be drowned out by racism can rest easy looking forward. Here’s hoping the actors get some respite from such attacks while the show can reach its full potential.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerseason 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.
