Film

Boricua Actor Ismael Cruz Córdova to Star in Amazon’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Lead Photo: Ismael Cruz Córdova attends the Premiere Of Columbia Pictures' "Miss Bala" at Regal LA Live Stadium 14 on January 30, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Ismael Cruz Córdova attends the Premiere Of Columbia Pictures' "Miss Bala" at Regal LA Live Stadium 14 on January 30, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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If you’ve never seen any of The Lord of the Rings movies over the last couple of decades, you might not know that all the Latino characters were banished into the fiery pits of Mount Doom before the franchise even began. At least that’s what I tell myself as no Latino characters appear in any of the movies – even though, “Frodo” is not far off from a nickname you’d give your Mexican tío. And while we can’t rewrite J.R.R. Tolkien novels now to include Latinos, we will at least get a Latino actor starring in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings series on Amazon.

We don’t have the 411 on a character name just yet, but we do know Puerto Rican actor Ismael Cruz Córdova (Miss Bala) will star in the show. Cruz, 32, is best known for his recurring role as professional boxer Hector Campos in the fourth season of the Showtime crime drama Ray Donovan. He will be a regular on the upcoming show, which is scheduled to begin shooting in February.

According to Deadline, executives at Amazon are not ready to reveal Campos’ character on the fantasy adventure, which is said to be a prequel to the 2001 film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The series already has a multi-season commitment from Amazon.

Cruz is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, so we know he’s got the acting chops. Now, we’re just wondering if he is going to be hidden behind layers of makeup and prosthetics, as he was in the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian, where he played a purple alien criminal named Qin.