Will Viggo Mortensen Reprise Aragorn Role in Upcoming LOTR Movie?

Published: December 9, 2024

Will Viggo Mortensen Reprise Aragorn Role in Upcoming LOTR Movie?

By Movieguide® Contributor

LORD OF THE RINGS script writer Phillipa Boyens revealed that the filmmakers of the upcoming LOTR movie, THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM, hope Viggo Mortensen will reprise his role as Aragorn.

“Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage,” Boyens told The Playlist. “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.”

“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,” she continued. “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.”

“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 added. “But literally that decision is several, several months away. He’s got to read the script first.”

The upcoming film, directed by Serkis who will also reprise his role as Gollum, will take place in tandem with the previous LOTR trilogy, exploring the story of Gollum between Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday and before Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire for Rivendell.

“At the beginning of THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM, Gandalf fears Gollum might speak with Sauron about the One Ring, so the wizard tasks Aragorn with finding the monster-like creature,” Digital Trends said.

“It’s deliberately the bridging film and the story we wanted to tell,” Boyens said. “It does center on Gollum/Smeagol, so it’s a little bit of an origin story going on, but when you delve into it, as you do with anything Professor Tolkien wrote, you see the layers and layers of story that’s underneath there and how interconnected they all are.”

“It is a tricky story,” she added, “Because the fate of several of the characters we already know, but you kind of then have to use that to your advantage as a storyteller.”

In the meantime, fans can get excited for the upcoming THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM, an anime feature that releases on Dec. 13.

“Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan,” a synopsis reads. “A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”