‘The Rings of Power’ star admits he was ‘galvanized’ by the backlash

The Rings of Power recently aired its first season finale. With it, ROP rekindled the flame brought by the Peter Jackson epic fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings, inspired by the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. Alongside the beloved fantasy series returning, fans of the show have also made a comeback. As with any diehard audience, viewers had a tendency to be a bit more critical of the cast, as Ismael Cruz Córdova would confirm.

From the moment Córdova was cast for the role of Silvan elf Arondir, he was bombarded with plenty of backlash and criticism and deep-rooted racism. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Puerto Rican actor admitted that racist messages were appearing in abundance in his social media profiles.

When prompted by the interviewer regarding the fans’ bemoaning the skin color of a mythological elf, Córdova admitted that the repugnant behavior “galvanizes you,” he said. “It moves you. It locates you. It hits a nerve. Yes, I definitely expected it.” He shared that this topic of discussion had been prominent in meetings before the show’s release.

“I had these conversations way in advance. It was a driving force to fight for this role so strongly because I knew that it was a necessary thing to do and something that I wanted to lead in the end. So it’s not surprising. There is an element of surprise, though.”

Córdova also mentions the constant pushback brought by not being Latino enough to be respected as such. Similar to his previous experiences on the sets of Miss Bala and Mary Queen of Scouts, he admits to not being foreign to this kind of exclusion in the Latino community, nor the backlash brought by his skin color.

“I even experienced it with Miss Bala. There was a lot of pushback that I didn’t look Latino enough by being an Afro-Latino. There is an issue of anti-Blackness in the Latino community as well. I also experienced it with Mary Queen of Scots, playing David Rizzio. So I’ve had my bouts with it [as an actor], and since I also live in this world, I’ve experienced it myself.” 

Regardless, he proudly took on the roles, admitting that the racist comments ended up affecting him more than anticipated, “That [treatment] has definitely had a surprising element that’s very revealing as to what the state of the world is. I must admit that it takes a toll on me. There’s no denying that,” he explained. “I just have to dust myself off, gather myself, and try to just continue leading the change in any little way that I can.”

The Rings of Power‘s first season can currently be found and streamed on Amazon Prime Video, as the second season is currently in pre-production.