U.S. — A clip from a live Q&A with the cast and crew of Amazon's upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television series went viral Tuesday when showrunners clarified any resemblance to the works of Tolkien was purely coincidental.
In the viral clip, Adam Quatloo, a writer for theonering.net, asked if fan-favorite Tom Bombadil would appear in the Amazon Original series. In answering the question the showrunner was forced to admit they are actively attempting to avoid Tolkien's influence on the program.
"Thanks for asking, but I don't know who that is," showrunner J.D. Payne answered. "What I can tell you is that The Rings of Power is a story of class struggle and rebellion against gender-normative stereotypes in the pursuit of Galadriel's personal truth as she acknowledges her white-elvish guilt and encourages the elvish communities to depart Middle Earth for the Grey Havens, leaving the land to its rightful indigenous tribes of orc and dwarfish kind."
"We go well beyond the scope of Tolkien and don't have time for more male characters like whoever Tom Bombadil is."
Quatloo followed up with another question, "Excuse me, but aren't orcs corrupted versions of the elves? So wouldn't the elvish be the indigenous peoples of the land?"
"Look, any actual reference to Tolkien beyond the setting is to be taken as purely coincidental. We want to limit our association with him as much as possible since he was born in 1892 and, therefore, racist," said Payne.
Fans of Tolkien have accused the showrunners and producers of The Rings of Power of dismissing any association with Tolkien as an excuse for not properly researching and developing the show's script. However, Patrick McKay, who also serves as showrunner, clarified that it doesn't matter if something is true to the source material as long as it makes significant headway on the road to true social equity.
"The entire impetus behind the series is to show that women are spunky and exactly like men," said McKay. "And also that there are no women, just elves and orcs. And also that calling them orcs is prejudiced."
"And that black dwarf lives matter."
At publishing time, the show's producers confirmed that Bombadil will likely appear in season 2, although the character will now go by the name Tanya Bombadil.
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