In the wake of the controversy surrounding multiple casting choices for the new film “The Odyssey,” the director of another highly anticipated film is reassuring audiences that its cast won’t reflect Hollywood’s demand for the “woke” definition of diversity.
While virtually every other culture is permitted, if not encouraged, to create entire realms of entertainment solely for themselves, classic works like “Lord of the Rings” face modern-day pressure to include glaring anachronisms or face leftist backlash.
But Andy Serkis, who portrays the character Gollum and will direct the new spinoff film “The Hunt for Gollum,” says those demands won’t impact the filmmaking process.
As Breitbart reported:
Woke critics have attacked the 90-year-old stories for being “too white,” and in an interview with the BBC, Serkis admits that the series of books and films have been accused of lacking “diversity,” according to Deadline.
Serkis noted that the creator of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings universe, James R.R. Tolkein, did not concern himself with racial or cultural differences outside the experience of the British Isles.
“Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology; there’s a lot of that feeling,” Serkis said. “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know.” And added, “They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.”
But he admitted that there “have been criticisms” of Tolkien’s tales, and he promised that his new film, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum, will address the question of “diversity.”
“This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But we don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it’s only where relevant basically,” he said.
His remarks sparked some social media discussion:
Because it's about an ethnic homeland of white people during a time period when the very notion of "diversity" would be seen as absurd.
Do you want DIVERSITY in Wakanda? Do we need Mexicans and Asians and white people in every African movie?
— Winning Wizard (@RapedXbyXCensor) July 16, 2026
It's no different then, black, Indian, Native, Japanese, Korean having their own movies. What a world to be alive in. Always drama, always wokeness.
— Freedom (@hello377945) July 16, 2026
If lack of diversity complaints are based on skin color (white in this case), then why doesn't it also apply to k-pop bands, Korean dramas or Bollywood films? Do they have lack of diversity or is it only for white groups?
— Shin Ko (@helloshinko) July 16, 2026
Finally someone with the balls you need to be true to the source material instead of catering to bs
— Ethan Bach (@JediVoiceMaster) July 16, 2026
Fox News added these details:
The “Lord of the Rings” franchise expanded its diversity with Amazon’s spinoff “The Rings of Power,” which some viewers criticized as being too “woke.” The show included some of the franchise’s first Black Elves and Dwarves, along with other characters portrayed by actors of color. Billionaire Elon Musk even weighed in on the show, posting on X in 2022, “Tolkien is turning in his grave.”
Only days after that post, several actors from the original franchise posed for a photowearing T-shirts with different elf ears that featured different skin tones with the caption, “You Are All Welcome Here.”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” is expected to premiere in December 2027 and is set to take place between the prequel “The Hobbit” films and the first “The Fellowship of the Ring” film of the main trilogy.
Here’s some additional coverage:
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