Viggo Mortensen Confirms that He Would Be Open to Returning as Aragorn in 'The Hunt for Gollum'

Not that long ago, we confirmed that Peter Jackson was indeed coming back to The Lord of the Rings franchise, but as a producer, and that a new movie had been confirmed for a 2026 release. The movie was soon revealed to be The Hunt for Gollum, and we also received confirmation that Andy Serkis would be coming back to the role that made him famous, but that he would also be directing the movie as well. This is all part of a larger plan to revitalize The Lord of the Rings cinematic franchise and expand upon the original movies directed by Jackson.

So, a return to Middle-earth is imminent and we cannot wait for the movie to come out, but since we still have a long way to go, we don’t have too much information at this point. But, while nothing has been confirmed, one actor from Jackson’s original trilogy has expressed his desire to return.

Viggo Mortensen entered movie history when he portrayed Aragorn, one of the most popular and important characters in Tolkien’s world, and his performance is still lauded even today. And while Mortensen has moved on from the role since then, in a recent talk with GQ, he revealed that he asked Jackson whether he could use Andúril, Aragorn’s sword from the movies, in his new movie, The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he directed, wrote, and composed the score for. Here is what he revealed:

GQ: The film has a few fantasy sequences, and I noticed that in one of them you can see what looks like your sword Andúril from Lord of the Rings. What’s the story behind that choice?

VM: We had everything for this sequence with a knight. We had found this great, spirited horse, the right kind of saddle, and we made a medieval kind of blanket, and we had the costume for the knight. Everything was right, and then I said, well, we should have a sword. And I did look and there were some good ones and I thought, well, it might be kind of good to use this one that I had because it’s really good. But I knew I would have to ask permission because I’m sure somebody would notice it, even if you only see it for a few seconds, it’s not really essential to the scene and certainly not to the movie, it’s just something in passing that you either see or you don’t.

So I did ask Peter Jackson if he’d be all right with it, and he said, “Well, is it very important in the story?” I said, no, it’s not, actually. You hardly notice it, but somebody will, probably. He said it was okay with him but that I should ask the movie company. So I contacted them and they were fine with it. They realised it wasn’t essential, it wasn’t going to draw a lot of attention to itself. And they were very nice about it, and they gave us permission. That’s why we did it, just because it seemed right. It was kind of a last-minute accident.

Source: GQ

Yeah, we can imagine how good Andúril is; we’d use it as well. But while this is certainly an interesting piece of trivia, what interests us more is whether we could see Aragorn back on screen:

GQ: Back when The Hobbit was first announced, you said that you would return to play Aragorn if the story was right and the character actually did something. With the recently announced The Hunt for Gollum, which does involve Aragorn, would you consider returning?

VM: Sure. I don’t know exactly what the story is, I haven’t heard. Maybe I’ll hear about it eventually. I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. 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.

Source: GQ

So, is Aragorn coming back? We don’t know, but Mortensen is open to reprising the role, and we hope that there will be a chance for him to appear, as we’re certain that every Lord of the Rings fan would love to see him once again. This is why we will be following up on this story, so don’t forget to follow us!

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