J.R.R. Tolkien did not invent orcs; version of them date back to at least the 10th century. But the author’s magnum opus The Lord of the Rings helped make them popular in modern times, leading to their appearances in Dungeons & Dragons, Warcraft, and Peter Jackson’s beloved film trilogy from the early aughts, which were designed to look like Harvey Weinstein. Warcraft has its share of female orcs, but so far the Tolkien wing has not. That’s about to change.
In a new interview with IGN, members of the production team for Amazon’s super pricey forthcoming Lord of the Rings series — subtitled Rings of Power — revealed that among the expansions in their version of Middle-earth will be orcs of more than one gender. When asked what she loved about the new series, executive producer Lindsey Weber said, “There’s some female Orcs that I truly loved.”
It sounds like Tolkien heads will be learning quite a lot more about orcs than they did before. They won’t just be the fearsome baddies as presented in previous films.
“The way I described it to my team, it’s a bit like these are the baby versions,” says Jamie Wilson, who is head of the shows prosthetic department. “They’re not actually babies, but it’s them coming out from the darkness. So this is early on. So for example, if you go to past films about them, you’ll see them and they’re quite battle damaged and scarred and all that kind, because there’s been lots more battles.”
Sympathetic orcs, some of whom are also ladies, eh? You’ll be able to see them when the show debuts on Amazon on September 2.
(Via IGN)
Source: https://uproxx.com/tv/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-female-orcs/