Actor Viggo Mortensen is expected to reprise his role as Aragorn in The Hunt for Gollumthe next film in the saga Lord of the Rings.
In May 2023, after the first season of Rings of PowerDavid Zaslav, the boss of Warner, had expressed the desire to develop more films and series around the Lord of the Rings. While the animated film The Rohirrim War will be released in December in France, another film is being prepared about Gollumthis time in real shots. Unsurprisingly, Andy Serkis will reprise the role that made him known to the general public, in addition to giving him his first experience of motion capture of which he has become the champion in Hollywood.
For the occasion, the Briton will also direct, and will thus sign his fourth feature film after Breathe, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle et Venom: Let There Be Carnage (not forgetting his work as second unit director on the Hobbit trilogy). Peter Jackson, to whom we owe the original trilogy, should also be involved or at least consulted for this return to Middle-earth.
As for the rest of the casting, discussions and speculations have been going well since the announcement of the project, but we are finally starting to have the first real elements of answers, at least for Viggo Mortensen et son Aragorn.
(VIG) GO MORTENSEN
Screenwriter Philippa Boyens, who is a recurring collaborator of Peter Jackson and participates (with Fran Walsh) in the think tank on the future of the license, confirmed some elements of the scenario to The Playlist. The new film will take place almost in parallel with The Fellowship of the Ringshortly before Frodo leaves the Shire to travel to Rivendell. Gandalf fearing that Gollum could deliver information to Sauron about his Precious One, he tasks Aragorn with finding the creature before it is too late.
It was therefore certain that at the very least, Gandalf and Aragorn would be back. The question remained whether Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen would also be back after having played them respectively in the three films (and even all six for McKellen). The first confirmed this summer that he was up for it and the second is also in the plans according to Boyens:
“Honestly, it will entirely depend on Viggo if he wants to collaborate, but we are at a very early stage [du développement]. I spoke to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] spoke to him, Peter [Jackson] also, we all talked to each other and honestly, I can’t imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but that will totally depend on Viggo. »
THE THIRD AGE
There remains the more thorny question of the digital rejuvenation which will be necessary for Aragorn to return to his thirties (well, his 87 years), the actor having passed the age of 65. But there is no question of using artificial intelligence:
“I know Andy wants to work with him, but there are no plans to use AI, it’s digital makeup, and whether Viggo does it or not depends entirely on the quality of the script . And he doesn’t have a script yet. So, to be fair to Viggo, let’s wait and see if we write a good enough role and if there’s enough in it for him to accept. After that, it will be up to Viggo and Andy to decide how to achieve this.
I think that if he decides not to do it, we will still want him to be very involved, to convey this character, but it is a decision that will not be made for several months. He has to read the script first and that’s exactly what I’m going to get back to working on when I finish this interview. »
As for Gandalf, the situation is no further advanced. Ian McKellen is ready to take up his baton again, but is probably also waiting to be contacted and receive a script. For now, no filming date has been announced, let alone a release date. On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim will be released in France on December 11.
