Viggo Mortensenhas broken his silence on potentially returning to theLord of the Ringsfranchise as Aragorn in the upcomingThe Hunt for Gollummovie. Announced earlier in the month, the new addition to the Tolkien saga is a story that fits into the early part of Peter Jackson’s trilogy and will be directed by Andy Serkis. Mortensen originally appeared inThe Fellowship of the Ringin 2001, and made his last appearance in 2023’sThe Return of the King.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Since the announcement of the new movie, which is the first in Warner Bros. planned expansion of their Tolkien projects and not associated with Prime Video’sRings of Powerseries, there has been plenty of speculation about how the movie will be cast considering it features several prominent characters from Jackson’sLotRandHobbittrilogies. During an interview withGQ, Mortensen finally had the chance to address whether he would consider becoming the future king of Gondor once again. He said:
“Sure. I don’t know exactly what the story is, I haven’t heard. Maybe I’ll hear about it eventually. I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”
Can Any of the Original Lord of the Rings Cast Return for The Hunt for Gollum?
Two decades on fromPeter Jackson’s originalLord of the Ringsventure, a trilogy that changed the face of cinema in its scope and spectacularly rendered Middle Earth landscapes, and more than 10 years since the release ofThe Hobbit, there are many of the cast members that would no longer be able to play their original roles. Several stars have passed on, while others, such as Mortensen, are now significantly older than they were.
Viggo Mortensen is now older than Ian McKellen was when he first played Gandalf.
The Hunt for Gollumtakes place in theLord of the Rings’timeline before Frodo leaves The Shire inThe Fellowship of the Ring. This would mean that Mortensen would need to appear the same age as he did around that time. Although this is certainly achievable through de-aging technology, whether Warner Bros. would want to go down this route is unclear. In contrast, recasting the role has the huge task of finding someone capable of matching the memories many fans still have of Mortensen’s iconic take on the character.
LotR Movie Characters Likely to Return in The Hunt for Gollum (According to the Books)
J.R.R. Tolkien’s story of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum includes familiar faces like Aragorn, Gandalf, Thranduil and many others.
Andy Serkis, who famously played Gollum in the original trilogy,will be in the director’s chair this time around, with Jackson executive producing. So far there has been no word on whether Serkis will have a hand in the creation of Gollum on-screen this time around, as an extra 10 years on from his short role inThe Hobbit, it could be a stretch for the 60-year-old to pull off the agility of the role again.
The Hunt for Gollumhas already been given a 2026 release date, and considering the hefty amount of CGI work needed to bring Middle Earth to life, it will not be long before we find out more about who will be filling some very big shoes in the latest addition to the list of on-screen Tolkien adaptations.
