Mortal Kombat’s Ludi Lin says new Lord of the Rings series lacks diversity

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Mortal Kombat's Ludi Lin, who plays Liu Kang in the film, is calling out Amazon's new Lord of The Rings series for its lack of diversity. 

Lin took to Twitter to address the issue via a story about the show and its massive budget. One article, published on May 12 by "Indiewire", had a headline that read "Amazon Boss Justifies Lord of the Rings' $465 Million Budget: Huge World-Building Required." Lin tweeted the article to his 38.8K followers and directly called out the head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, by saying it's "hard to justify" the creation of such a huge world "without any characters that look Asian." You can check out Lin's tweet below:

Once you dive into it, of the 30+ cast members announced for the new series, the vast majority appears to be white. It should be noted that it's too early to determine at this point how big of a role each cast member actually has but diversity has been the hot-button topic in Hollywood and the fantasy genre as well. Franchises like Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Lord of The Rings have been reexamined under a new lens because of how "white" some of these franchises are. I might get a lot of crap for this but many fantasy series draw on Medieval and Norse mythos for inspiration and that is a lot of the reason there are more white performers attached to fantasy series and franchises. A lot of the stories do provide allegories for race but a part of me thinks it's reaching a bit to find a problem here. I'm all for more diversity across film and TV but I don't think a show like Lord of The Rings featuring mostly white actors is a sign of a lack of diversity. 

Lin's tweet is being met with a mostly positive reception although there are some responses that think he's trying to find an issue where there isn't one. So far, Jennifer Salke hasn't responded to his tweet but it will be interesting to see if it gains more traction. Lin is no stranger to using his platform to speak up in favor of diversity and against anti-Asian rhetoric. Lin recently spoke about the rise in anti-Asian violence with the "South China Morning Post "and stated, "I want to do my part in transforming these feelings into positive action to prevent tragedies like these from repeating." I respect Lin's passion and I respect him using his platform to speak his mind but this is bound to have people mixed down the aisle. 

What are YOUR thoughts on Ludi Lin's comments?