{"id":588006,"date":"2026-07-16T03:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/588006\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:23:20","slug":"andy-serkis-explains-lord-of-the-rings-lack-of-diversity-and-white-actors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/588006\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Serkis Explains Lord of the Rings Lack of Diversity and White Actors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAndy Serkis<\/a> said in a recent interview with the BBC<\/a> that his new \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d movie, \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum,\u201d will \u201csomewhat acknowledge\u201d the franchise\u2019s lack of diversity. The film, which is now in production, has announced a cast so far that is made up entirely of white actors: Jamie Dornan, Anna Taylor-Joy, Kate Winslet, Lee Pace, Leo Woodall, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen, plus Serkis\u2019 return in the title role. The BBC asked Serkis why this is the case.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there\u2019s a lot of that feeling,\u201d Serkis explained about the lack of the diversity. \u201cThe Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know\u2026 They\u2019re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don\u2019t want people coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYes, there have been criticisms,\u201d Serkis added. \u201cThis particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But I don\u2019t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it\u2019s where relevant basically.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditional cast members for \u201cThe Lord of the Rings<\/a>: The Hunt for Gollum\u201d have yet to be announced. The Prime Video series \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power\u201d previously faced backlash<\/a> from racist Tolkien fans for its diverse casting. The outrage became so loud that Jackson\u2019s \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d cast members Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan banded together on social media to support the show\u2019s inclusive casting. The trio wore shirts that featured the ears of Middle-earth creatures in various skin tones.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cRings of Power\u201d actors then released a joint statement <\/a>condemning \u201cthe relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTolkien created a world which, by definition, is multi-cultural,\u201d read the statement. \u201cA world in which free peoples from, different races and cultures join together, in fellowship, to defeat the forces of evil. \u2018Rings of Power\u2019 reflects that. Our world has never been all white, fantasy has never been all white, Middle-earth is not all white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum<\/a>\u201d opens in theaters Dec. 17, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Serkis said in a recent interview with the BBC that his new \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d movie,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[7196,18,117,19,17,327,7199,7200],"class_list":["post-588006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-andy-serkis","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116927516263486640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}