Russell Crowe reveals why he turned down a role in The Lord of the Rings. Serving as adaptations of the books by J.R.R. Tolkien, director Peter Jackson’s hit fantasy trilogy was released from 2001 to 2003, chronicling Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) epic quest to destroy the One Ring. The Lord of the Rings cast is a major reason why the movies work so well, but it’s become common knowledge in the decades since the films’ release that various other actors were almost cast in key roles, including Crowe as Aragorn, a role that eventually went to Viggo Mortensen.

In a recent segment for British GQ, Crowe is asked on social media whether he regrets turning down The Lord of the Rings.

Crowe makes clear that it’s not a decision he regrets, and explains that he didn’t take the job because he had a feeling he wasn’t Jackson’s top choice for the part. Check out his comment below:

“I was a big Tolkien reader when I was a kid, so I got quite excited about the idea of Lord of the Rings. But I very much felt the studio were making that decision, not the film director. And I talked to Peter Jackson over the phone, and he wasn’t saying the sort of things that directors were saying to you if they were really trying to attract you to a project.

“And I just kind of got a sense that he already had somebody else in mind that he wanted to do. And me stepping forward and saying yes was actually going to get in his way. We come from the same place, so there’s a nuance in that conversation that other people might not hear –we’re both New Zealanders – in his own way without him saying anything negative, that he had another plan. So I just left it at that.”

Would Russell Crowe Have Made A Good Aragorn?

Why It’s For The Best That He Didn’t Join The Lord Of The Rings

Mortensen’s casting as Aragorn evidently worked out well for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He was so iconic and memorable in the role that it’s now almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing that character. Crowe, however, had gotten his major Hollywood break with Gladiator in 2000, only one year before The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released, and it’s interesting to imagine how the character – and the franchise – would have been different had he joined the world of Middle-earth.

Before The Fellowship of the Ring, Mortensen was a relative unknown in Hollywood. He’d had some interesting roles, but it was Aragorn that really put him on the map. Crowe, on the other hand, had just won an Oscar for his role as Maximus in Gladiator, and he undoubtedly would’ve brought some more movie star energy and charisma to The Lord of the Rings. It’s probably for the best, however, that audiences didn’t already have a strong existing relationship to Mortensen, as it allowed him to take on the role with relatively little baggage.

Had Crowe taken on the role, comparisons between Maximus and Aragorn would’ve been unavoidable. While Crowe has certainly proven himself an incredibly talented and charismatic performer, the character of Aragorn benefits from being somewhat mysterious, especially at first, and Crowe feeling like more of a movie star could’ve taken away from this. It’s an interesting thought experiment to imagine how The Lord of the Rings would be different if Crowe had played a starring role, but it’s probably for the best that Crowe realized he wasn’t Jackson’s first choice.