Comments
Next year, audiences will return to Middle-earth with the new movie The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which will reunite viewers with some fan-favorite characters. During CinemaCon, the cast was officially announced, confirming that Andy Serkis (who’s also directing), Elijah Wood, and Ian McKellen are all reprising their legendary roles from the original films. The Hunt for Gollum also has a role for Aragorn, but Viggo Mortensen isn’t returning. Instead, Jamie Dornan will follow in Mortensen’s footsteps. Ahead of production starting, many are curious to see how Dornan will fare, but he has the original Aragorn’s stamp of approval.
During an appearance on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, Serkis discussed The Hunt for Gollum and addressed Dornan’s casting. “I really, really don’t want to go into [why Dornan was cast as Aragorn] right now because I do want to save that for down the line,” he said. “We’re at a kind of crunch stage now. We’re just about to start shooting … so, I’m gonna save all discussion about casting, other than we are thrilled that Jamie’s doing it, and, by the way, so is Viggo.”
Jamie Dornan’s Aragorn Is the Most Important Piece of The Hunt for Gollum
The Lord of the Rings is one of the most beloved pop culture franchises of all time, but there are lingering questions about The Hunt for Gollum at this stage in its development. While the original trilogy was a critically acclaimed fantasy epic (with Return of the King winning a record 11 Oscars), projects since then have delivered mixed results. The Hobbit movies were successful at the box office but weren’t as well-received critically. More recently, the TV series Rings of Power proved to be divisive and the animated movie The War of the Rohirrim underwhelmed. This is all to say that Lord of the Rings isn’t exactly riding a wave of positive momentum heading into The Hunt for Gollum.
From a storytelling perspective, the new film feels like another example of an iconic IP being unable to move on from the past. The Hunt for Gollum is an interquel set during the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, chronicling Gandalf and Aragorn’s quest to find Gollum before Sauron. Since we know Gollum is captured and tortured by Sauron’s forces, it remains to be seen how Serkis and Co. make this narrative interesting. The recasting of Aragorn is yet another hurdle The Hunt for Gollum has to clear, as the situation recalls memories of box office bomb Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Read Next After 13 Years, The Hunt for Gollum Can Fix 1 of The Lord of the Rings’ Best & Most Underused Castings
Mortensen was brought in late as a replacement to play Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, but he proved to be the perfect choice. The actor is synonymous with the role, brilliantly portraying each step of Aragorn’s journey from ranger to leader of men (his speech at the Black Gate is one of the highlights of the trilogy). It’s borderline impossible to envision anyone else as Aragorn, so Dornan has an uphill battle ahead of him. He’s certainly a talented actor in his own right, but his performance as Aragorn will undoubtedly be compared to Mortensen’s, especially since it’s technically supposed to be the same character from Fellowship of the Ring.
The Hunt for Gollum is shaping up to be a massive studio tentpole with a lot of moving pieces, but Dornan is arguably the most important of them all. Everyone knows Ian McKellen is great as Gandalf and Andy Serkis can bring Gollum to life in a way no one else can. Whether or not The Hunt for Gollum is successful could hinge on Dornan. If he’s able to convince audiences he is Aragorn with his own compelling portrayal, the spinoff could become an entertaining companion piece to the original trilogy. But should audiences not respond well to him, The Hunt for Gollum could be doomed before it even hits theaters. Fortunately, Serkis knows how important it was to get this casting right, so hopefully he pushed the right button here.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the Forum!
7 Lord of the Rings Changes From the Books the New Movies Must Make
