What was Viggo Mortensen’s reaction to Jamie Dornan’s Aragorn casting in The Hunt for Gollum?
Director Andy Serkis shares Viggo Mortensen’s reaction to Jamie Dornan taking over the role of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
There may come a day when Lord of the Rings casting choices will come back to haunt former star Viggo Mortensen, but, according to Andy Serkis, that day is not yet. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum director said Mortensen is “thrilled” to have Jamie Dornan recast as Aragorn, also known as Strider.
In an interview with Josh Horowitz happy sad confused Podcast, Serkis said, “We’re thrilled that Jamie is doing it. I mean, we’re, you know, we’re absolutely thrilled. And, by the way, so is Viggo.” When asked about Mortensen’s decision not to reprise the role, Serkis declined to go into detail, saying he wanted to save that discussion for “further down the road”.
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He said, “I don’t really want to go into it right now because I want to save it for later, you know. I’m going to save all the discussion about casting.”
Dornan’s casting was previously revealed cinemacon During Warner Bros.’ panel with the film set to explore a new story within Middle-earth. Serkis previously teased the casting in an interview screenrant “Let’s say we’re recasting the role, and we’re on track to find someone,” he said ahead of the 2026 convention.
Along with Dornan’s casting and Serkis’ return as Sméagol, Warner Bros. also revealed that Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf, while Kate Winslet will play Marigol, Leo Woodall will play Halvard, Lee Pace will play Thranduil, and Elijah Wood will return as Frodo.
Wood had expressed his thoughts about portraying Frodo Baggins in the original trilogy in a previous interview with The Sunday Times. He said, “As long as I’m alive and able, I certainly wouldn’t want anyone else to play Frodo.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum Brings back the core creative trio of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
While the film was originally scheduled to release in 2026, the film’s release date has now been pushed to December 17, 2027.