If Middle-Earth is your home, be it the grass-covered beauty that is the Shire, the wooden Rohanese capital of Edoras, or the glistening monument that is Minas Tirith — it is a fun time to be part ofThe Lord of the Rings. The original adaptation ofJ.R.R. Tolkien’s work into thePeter Jacksontrilogy is making a return to the big screensthis summer. But beyond that, Warner Bros. have announced that it is developinga newLord of the Ringsfilm, titledThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which seesAndy Serkisreturn as Gollum, and also taking a turn in the director’s chair. This development suggests that certain characters from the original trilogy could make a return, including “a Ranger of the North,” known to some by the name Strider, and to others, Aragorn, the heir of Isildur.
Viggo Mortensenembodied the character brilliantly in Jackson’s work, bringing a certain regal feel to Gondor’s would be king despite his mostly tattered appearance. Mortensen made his first appearance as Aragorn inThe Fellowship of the Ringback in 2001, thenThe Two Towersin 2002 and finally,The Return of the Kingin 2003. While Mortensen didn’t reprise the role in Jackson’sThe Hobbittrilogy, the actor has, in an interview withGQ, addressed the chances of taking on the role inThe Hunt for Gollum. Mortensen revealed he would be interested in becoming Aragorn once more. However, he stresses that the story has to be right, while factoring in his age. The actor 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.”
Mortensen returning to his role as Aragorn has its pros and cons. Firstly, without prior knowledge of the plot forThe Hunt for Gollum,Tolkien’s appendices give us a clue. There is a twenty-year period while Frodo hasthe One Ringin his possession, Gandalf and Aragorn hunt down Gollum to stop the creature from informing the Dark Lord of the Ring’s whereabouts. This suggests that Aragorn would be about the same age as he was in the trilogy, given how slowlythe men descended from Numenorage. So Mortensen, now aged 65, might find it difficult to reprise the role being 20 years older than in the trilogy. However, recasting Aragorn might be a tall order, given how excellently Mortensen played the role.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’ Is a Promising Story
Much of the challenges faced byThe Hunt for Gollumstem from the fact that the upcoming film will presumably take place during the same time period as Jackson’s trilogy. Other casting challenges might include Gandalf, who was portrayed bySir Ian McKellenin the trilogy. And should the new plot somehow revolve around Rohan and its mighty king, Theoden,the recent sad passing of Bernard Hill, the actor who brought the Rohanese king to life, presents another challenge.
However, despite all these possible bumps in the road,Jackson is convincedthat pursuing Gollum’s story is the right way to go:
“The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic. I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us. We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films. It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumis expected in theaters in 2026. The first season ofLord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris available to stream on Prime Video, ahead of the Season 2 premiere on August 29.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.
