New mother and actor Sophia Nomvete has revealed that costume staff were mindful and inclusive of her baby daughter when creating her look for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Nomvete, who will portray the dwarf princess Disa in the TV series, attended her first audition for the role while in her third trimester.
The role required someone “warm and maternal”, which felt like the perfect fit for the heavily pregnant actor. “I thought: ‘Well, I don’t know how much more maternal it gets. Let’s go for it!’” Nomvete told The Guardian.
When the actor flew to New Zealand to begin filming just 10 weeks after giving birth to her daughter, the production team ensured the newborn could join her mother on set.
“They built a flap into my costume, so there were literally times when I’d have the baby on my boob, I’d go: ‘Right, are we ready to shoot? Great,’ and I’d take her off,” she said. “But that’s how it should be. We can do it too!”
The new series features a more diverse cast than the franchise films, a move that has sparked some criticism from online trolls.
Meanwhile, executive producer Lindsey Weber toldVanity Fair earlier this year that she wanted the adaptation to “reflect what the world actually looks like”.
Nomvete, who is South African and Iranian, and is the first Black woman to be cast as a dwarf in the Lord of the Rings franchise, said she is “not immune” to the backlash.
“But Disa is an absolute force. She’s a titan. And I’m already getting feedback from other women saying: ‘I see myself in her, my little girl sees herself.’ It’s all about redressing the balance,” Nomvete said.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be available to watch on Amazon Prime on 2 September.
