Viggo Mortensen Asked to Return For ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum'

There’s been a lot of talk about Andy Serkis’ upcoming “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum,” which would reunite the original cast for this new instalment. Ian McKellen and Orlando Bloom have stated that they’ve been asked to return in their respective roles, and now we can add another important actor.

In an interview with The Playlist, ‘Lord of the Rings’ writer Philippa Boyens talks about how ‘The Hunt For Gollum’ features a prominent role for Aragorn, and they hope to have Viggo Mortensen return.

Apparently, ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ is set during ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ era, shortly before Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire for Rivendell. The film starts with Gandalf sending Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum.

However, the question remains, will Mortensen return?

“Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage,” she said. “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.”

If you’re wondering exactly how Mortensen, McKellen, Bloom, Elijah Wood, and Sean Bean can possibly come back, all of whom have aged by 20 years, then Boyens seems to have found an answer to the problem, and it might turn out to be very controversial.

“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.”

Boyens adds that if Mortensen is not game to return then he’d have to “hand off” the character to another actor. This would be yet another controversial decision, and one that fans would probably not be too happy about.