LOTR’s Orlando Bloom Shares Photo with Rings of Power Star Ismael Cruz Cordova

Orlando Bloom may have been the beautiful poster boy for elves when Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings came out, but that title now belongs to Ismael Cruz Cordova in Amazon’s The Rings of Power.

It’s no mystery that there has been some toxic fans attacking the actors that work on The Rings of Power, and it what seems like an act of solidarity, Bloom has decided to share a photo of himself with Cordova with the caption “mellon”—the Elvish word for ‘friend.’

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A post shared by Orlando Bloom (@orlandobloom)

Just like the Star Wars actors before them, the LOTR actors now find themselves in a position to help push back any racist backlash when it comes to new properties coming out in the franchise. The hobbit actors Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan had already come out to show their support for the new actors in the franchise, and it’s great to see Bloom follow suit.

Admittedly, it seems almost impossible to adapt any popular IP without receiving some kind of negative reaction from fans of the original, and The Rings of Power had already been bashed before it even made its premiere. Personally, I think there’s a lot of care being put toward the making of the show, and while the pacing is slow, I am just enjoying living in the realm of Middle-earth, and getting to see more of the culture clash between characters.

Catch new episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power every Friday on Amazon Prime Video.