I think it's people from the same group. Well according to Forbes. I'm not sure why anyone other than Tolkien fans would care about the colour of Durian's wife.
I didnt, I thought she was fine in the role. The dwarf stuff I thought was some of the best parts of the show. But then someone else made the point about how every village we see is a melting pot ethnicities, races, whatever. And if you contrast that with game of thrones, its off somewhat. Game of thrones had people looking and sounding like where they came from. You could tell just by looking if someone was from the the north or from Dorne. The casting was very much on purpose to create a living breathing real world to get lost in. Does it matter what colour a characters skin is in the show? Not really. As long as the actor does a good job thats all that matters. But as people love to say, its the little things that made a world feel real. Other than the accents, ROP characters could be from anywhere. I think in an effort to be as diverse as possible, ROP missed a big opportunity to expand the world of middle earth and explore the other races of men.
And then theres the big one. They say they want this show to flow into the movies. So that means at some point between the end of this series and the start of the movies, theres a massive genocide of black people. Thats kinda awkward, no?
I'm not an expert on the difference between movie and TV quality of this type of project and although I expect it can't be difficult to understand I'm certain you know a lot more than me. My thinking is that most of that 1bil went to the cgi people, the list always seems endless.
All I keep thinking is that people are saying this and that were shocking and I don't recall anything shocking apart from the brilliance in getting the story out.
If more people don't like it then it'll not see a second series which will be a disappointment. 1 billion sounds shocking but I expect thats going to become quite normal unless everyone wants everything of the 911 and The Mentalist type quality.
edit. On thinking about it I do think that Elrond was a bit dodgy, looked more surprised than shocked in his scenes but it's by degrees only I expect.
We will be seeing all 5 seasons of this no matter what. Amazon paid for them in advance. So even if not a single person was watching it, it would still be getting released. As for the quality of the writing, its the little things. In one episode Arondir is telling us that Elves dont have medicine because Elven bodies just heal themselves. And in the next Galadriel is telling us that not Sauron needs Elven medicine to survive. And then when we see the Elves hanging over not Sauron they cant tell that hes not human... Its the little things. At the start of the show Calibrimbor is talking about recreating the works of Faenor. Yet when he gets a piece of Mithril, that plan is out the window. Which is weird, as having a piece of Mithril would be a really big help in recreating/reverse engineering a Silmaril. And where was the magic in creating the rings? The magic is what makes the rings...powerful. Without the magic, they are just rings. The way Sauron is able to use the one ring to rule them all is because of magic, not alloy. So where was the magic to get that across to the audience?
Like I said, its the little things. But I guess one of the big things is how they rushed the forging of the three rings. Not Sauron was in and out in a flash. There was no intrigue. There was no Galadriel being suss to not Sauron and trying to convince Calibrimbor of shady happenings. It was just over so quickly. That should have been spread over a season or least more than one episode. The thing is, the writers of this show aren't making this stuff up. Its already written. So it shouldn't be hard to flesh it out into something watchable. Yet here we are. Its boring over produced nonsense that relies on mystery boxes to keep the audience engaged. And worse the show runners dont seem to be taking any of the criticism on board. Its all just being dismissed as "haters gonna hate" or "racist trolls". Thats not how you make a product better. This was the most expensive show ever made, and they didnt even hire based on work history. JJ Abrahms suggested Payne and McKay whose only work before ROP was a failed script for Star Trek 3. Thats how they got the job. And it shows, IMO. Ryan Condal, showrunner on House of the Dragon has writer and producer credits going back a decade. Its not a lot, but its more than one failed script. And judging by the reception, House of the Dragon is loved by everyone, even the right wing YouTubers who were bemoaning it before it aired for the race swapped character love it. They both have great source material, but in is run by someone with experience and the other isnt. And it really shows, IMO.
But like I said at the start, it doesn't matter how good or bad the show is. 5 seasons have been bought and paid for. And 5 seasons will be released no matter what happens. So if you are enjoying it, rest easy in the knowledge that it wont be cancelled at any time and you wont be left hanging on a cliffhanger.