No Lord of the Rings fan is truly averse to more stories set in Middle-earth, especially if said story is set in the continuity of Peter Jackson’s big-screen adaptation. The 2000s-era trilogy is beloved by fans, and though the films that followed it didn’t exactly strike gold, Jackson and his collaborators seem eager to redeem themselves. Twenty years after The Fellowship of the Ring and 10 after the last Hobbit movie, the team could very well get their chance.
Jackson, writer Philippa Boyens, writer and producer Fran Walsh, and actor Andy Serkis are currently working on an all-new prequel set during the events of Fellowship, one meant to shed new light on one of the saga’s most complex characters. Tentatively named The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the upcoming film will follow a quest to keep the halfling — and his knowledge of the One Ring — out of Sauron’s clutches.
The Hunt for Gollum will focus on a handful of beloved characters. As the mission to find Gollum is spearheaded by Gandalf the Grey, Ian McKellen is set to reprise his role as the sage wizard, alongside Serkis as Gollum, and if Jackson has his way, they won’t be the only cast members returning. Serkis has pitched Orlando Bloom — who played the Elven warrior Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies — on returning to Middle-earth, and the fellowship also wouldn’t be complete without Viggo Mortensen, whose Aragorn works closely with Gandalf to find Gollum.
Mortensen previously expressed some interest in playing Aragorn again, if the circumstances were right. “I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth,” he told GQ this summer. “I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”
The actor is right to be cautious. It’s been decades since Mortensen’s played Aragorn, and if he comes back for The Hunt for Gollum, he’d essentially be playing his 40-year-old self again. There are options, of course; digital de-aging and motion capture could help Mortensen reprise his role as if no time as passed. But Boyens, who’s co-writing The Hunt for Gollum with Jackson and Walsh, has other ideas to bring the actor back into the fold.
“I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn,” Boyens recently told The Playlist. “I know Andy [Serkis] 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.”
Digital make-up is a relatively new option for film productions, but it could potentially surpass deepfakes and other unconvincing techniques. De-aging Mortensen may be a bit easier with the technology, and because it generally takes a lighter touch, it could feasibly look better than other attempts to recreate a character from a forgotten era.
Ultimately, Boyens says, the decision rests with Mortensen. “Whether Viggo does it or not 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.”
The Hunt for Gollum isn’t the sort of story that needs to be told, but it could be a fun exercise for those involved with the original trilogy. In most cases, it makes more sense to recast a role than to rely on visual effects and digital de-aging, but given Jackson and Serkis’ love for motion capture performance, it makes sense that the duo would be trying to push the boundaries of what’s possible on-screen.
Whatever decision they make, let’s hope it’s worth it. Jackson and his team must have a good reason to focus on this chapter of Tolkien lore; if not to explore a hidden side of Gollum, then perhaps to reunite the cast of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy for reasons beyond mere novelty.
