Middle-earth has found its new Aragorn.
Warner Bros. announced that the fan-favorite Ranger of the North will be portrayed by Jamie Dornan in the nextLord of the Ringsfilm,The Hunt for Gollum. However, he's being credited as "Strider," which is the name he's first introduced as inThe Fellowship of the Ring, rather than Aragorn.Viggo Mortensenoriginally played the role in Peter Jackson's trilogy.
Also officially in the cast: Leo Woodall as Thrander,Kate Winsletas Marigol, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Elijah Wood as Frodo.
The Hunt for Gollumwill be directed byAndy Serkis, who portrayed the titular creature in Jackson's original trilogy as well as theHobbittrilogy, and will do so again in the new film.
“It'sThe Hunt for Gollum, and it is a physical hunt for the character, but also a psychological hunt for himself,” he explained toScreenrant. “We're just about on the launchpad now, and it's very exciting. And yeah, it's going to be a big ride."
Mortensen previously reflected on the possibility of returning as Aragorn in a 2024 interview withGQ. "I don't know exactly what the story is. I haven't heard. Maybe I'll hear about it eventually," he said. "I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise."
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McKellen previouslylet the cat out of the bag that he and Wood would reprise their rolesfrom the original film inThe Hunt for Gollum. "I'll tell you two secrets about the casting: There's a character in the movie called Frodo, and there's a character in the movie called Gandalf," he said in August.
WB also recently announced thatLOTRsuperfan Stephen Colbert is writing a new project in the franchise titledThe Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. The film will take inspiration from eight chapters ofThe Fellowship of the Ringthat weren't adapted in Jackson's first film.
"I thought, 'Oh, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story. Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books, while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made?" Colbert said as the project was announced.
The official synopsis for that film reads: "Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo — Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began."
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The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumis scheduled to release on Dec. 17, 2027.
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
