The Strider will look a little different in his next outing back to Middle-earth. As The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum prepares to enter production later this year, director Andy Serkis has confirmed that Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, won’t be reprising his role in the upcoming film.
Speaking to Screen Rant, the motion-capture actor confirmed that a new star is set to play the character, though no further details were shared.
“I don’t know what’s out there at the moment, but I know there’s a lot of speculation, but let’s just say we are recasting the role and we are on the way to finding someone,” revealed Serkis.
Considering that The Hunt for Gollum takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, the recasting certainly makes sense, as the 67-year-old Mortensen is now 27 years older than when he started filming The Fellowship of the Ring, and Serkis’ version of Aragorn would be younger than in the original. Mortensen previously shared that he was open to portraying the warrior again, but only under the right circumstances.
“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,” said the star in a GQ interview.
In addition to Serkis, who will also return to voice Gollum, the project sees Jackson back on board as producer, alongside his producing partners on the earlier films, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. While there’s no official word on Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood’s return as Gandalf and Frodo, respectively, the former has hinted at it, with Kate Winslet being the only other announced cast member. Details on her role remain under wraps, however.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum follows Gandalf and Aragorn’s secret efforts to locate the titular character to learn more about Bilbo’s ring, which, of course, turns out to be the One Ring to rule them all. It’s the first of two upcoming live-action projects for the franchise, comprising 2002’s The Two Towers and 2003’s The Return of the King, The Hobbit movies that ran from 2012 to 2014, and an animated prequel film titled The War of the Rohirrim.
The film is slated for theatrical release on 17 December 2027.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
