Cynthia Addai-Robinson has no more time for racist 'LOTR' backlash: 'It's about the light and not the dark'
Season 1 is in the books for the most expensive television series ever made, Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of the Power, and it’s been a Middle-earthien-esque voyage so far for Cynthia Addai-Robinson and the show’s sprawling cast.
After filming the highly anticipated series in New Zealand over 18 months between 2020 and 2021, the cast went on a yearlong hiatus before doing an all-out promotional assault on San Diego Comic-Con, hosting premieres in London and Los Angeles, swinging through the Emmys and then making midseason stops in Manhattan for New York Comic-Con and PaleyFest.
“We've finally been able to talk about the show, which for the longest time we couldn't really talk about plot and details and characters,” Addai-Robinson, who’s made a memorable impression as Míriel, the noble Queen Regent of Númenor, tells us during a recent interview promoting her upcoming comedy The People We Hate at the Wedding (watch above).
“So it's just been lovely to feel that sense of joy and excitement and appreciation for the story that we have set out. And Season 1 really is an introduction, so beyond this first season, hopefully the show goes on to tell more story. I'm excited to see what people think of the finale. That's for sure.”
Though the first season has earned generally positive reviews, it’s also been knocked for its pacing and heavy use of exposition — such is the burden for a series that so ambitiously dares to expand the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien from the appendices of his classic novels. But the finale, which premiered last week, ends on a high note. Or as IGN put it, “It’s a banger of an episode.”
Even before the reactions to the actual series began pouring in, Addai-Robinson and company had to deal with the all-too-common-in-2022 racist backlash, with fans complaining and review-bombing the series in reaction to the fact that the fantasy series dare cast people of color. (Though these fans typically decry Tolkien based his books on Medieval Europe, the author himself said he did not care about assigning races to his characters.)
But the actress, born in London to a Ghanaian mother and American father, and who spoke to the power of the show’s diversity when we talked to her at San Diego Comic-Con, is brushing that dirt off her shoulders.
“My focus, especially as more of the show has aired, has been the more joyful aspects of what this story means to people,” she says. “You know, I think it has a level of importance. People are very protective of this story, protective of these characters, and now they've become protective of us as a cast. We've had this insane experience and the experience and the journey continue. So really to me, it's about the light and not the dark.
“It’s a theme of Tolkien. It's what we've been exploring in the story, and so we just are gonna continue heading toward the light. As I said, the response and the reception have been positive and wonderful. So that makes me happy.”
The People We Hate at the Wedding premieres Nov. 18 on Prime Video.
Watch the trailer:
