Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn Will Be Recast in ‘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, Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloom are likely to return in their respective roles, but what about Viggo Mortensen?

Last year, ‘Lord of the Rings’ writer Philippa Boyens confirmed that ‘The Hunt For Gollum’ features a prominent role for Aragorn, and that they hoped to have Viggo Mortensen back in the fray.

Turns out, it won’t happen. Knight Edge Media is confirming rumors: Mortensen’s role will be recast with a younger actor.

The studio originally wanted to use de-aging technology on Mortensen to make him appear younger, given that Mortensen was semi-open to returning for the role (via Instagram). The outlet reports that several actors have already met with director Serkis about the role, but their names are currently unknown.

‘The Hunt For Gollum’ is set during the ‘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.

Boyens originally had this to say about Mortensen’s return, and as you can tell by the wording, there wasalready some doubt last year that he’d be returning:

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 McKellen, Bloom, Wood, and 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 depend on how good the script is. 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 had mentioned that if Mortensen was not game to return, then they’d have to “hand off” the character to another actor. That seems to have now happened, and it is yet another controversial decision—one that fans will probably not be too happy about.