More Lord of the Rings movies are coming. In May, Warner Bros. announced two new live-action Lord of the Rings movies are in development. The first movie is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, estimated to arrive in 2026. Andy Serkis will direct and reprise his role as Gollum.
One of the critical characters in The Hunt for Gollum is Aragorn, which begs the question: Will Viggo Mortensen reprise his role as the Ranger of the North? In an interview with The Playlist, Oscar-winning screenwriter Philippa Boyens, one of the writers on The Hunt for Gollum, made it extremely clear that their creative team wants Mortensen to return.
“Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage,” Boyens 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.”
Set during The Fellowship of the Ring era, The Hunt for Gollum takes place after Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday party and before Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire for Rivendell. At the beginning of The Hunt for Gollum, Gandalf fears Gollum might speak with Sauron about the One Ring, so the wizard tasks Aragorn with finding the monster-like creature.
Besides Boyens, Serkis hopes to work with Mortensen again on the next Lord of the Rings movie.
“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,” Boyens 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.”
If Mortensen passes on playing Aragorn in The Hunt for Gollum, Boyens still wants him to help “hand this character off” to another actor.
The next Lord of the Rings project is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime feature film opening in theaters on December 13, 2024.