This week Warner Brothers is releasing their first animated feature film set in the world of Middle-Earth. Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim was directed by Japanese anime director Kenji Kamiyama but was produced by original Lord of the Rings writers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens. The three have all helped write every Lord of the Rings feature film as a collaboration and will once again help work on The Hunt for Gollum.
The film was announced last year when new Lord of the Rings rights holders Embracer Group laid out their plan for more feature films set in Middle-Earth. These new films will be exclusively released in theaters and only take place during The Third Age. Amazon Prime is also working on its own Tolkien universe set in The Second Age with The Rings of Power. Andy Serkis was also announced to return to direct his first Tolkien film and star as the title character. This story would see Gandalf send Strider out into the wild to find Gollum co-currently as Frodo leaves the Shire for Rivendell.
In a recent interview, producer and writer Phillipa Boyens revealed that both Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson have spoken to Viggo Mortensen (and Ian McKellen as Gandalf) about returning to the character he made famous over 20 years ago:
“Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage. I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo.”
Now, many will wonder how a now 66-year-old Viggo could return to a character that is younger than he originally played in 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. With technological advancement, we have seen de-aging as a new way to bring older actors back for younger roles. Much like Harrison Ford returning in flashback scenes in 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Boyens goes on to add this isn’t about using AI but just CGI to de-age:
“I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using A.I. [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is. And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.”
Now, she stresses that casting is months off, and it’s entirely up to Viggo to decide if he can do the role at his age:
“I suspect if he decides he doesn’t want to do it we would still want him to be heavily involved, like how do we hand this character off,” she said, “But literally that decision is several, several months away. He’s got to read the script first and that’s exactly what I’m going to be working on when I get out of this interview [laughs].”
The obvious second choice would be having a younger actor recast in the role. Sometimes, fans aren’t happy with the result, as in the Han Solo live-action movie. Peter Jackson did this once before with the role of Bilbo Baggins, played by both Ian Holm and Martin Freeman in The Hobbit trilogy. Holm’s telling the story as a bookend cameo is precisely what they could do with an older King Elessar telling the story about his younger (recast) self, simply known as Strider.
The Hunt for Gollum has no set release date
Source: The Playlist
