The Lord of the Rings Filmmakers Are, Like All Fans, Dying for Viggo Mortensen to Return

With new anime feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim once again bringing J.R.R Tolkien back to the pop-culture fore—not that it was too far away from that, thanks to the recently wrapped second season of Prime Videos’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series—it’s natural for fans to get dreamy about a favorite character from the Peter Jackson films. The dreamiest character, to be clear. And the people behind the Lord of the Rings movies want you to know they share that same longing for him to return.

Who is it? Obviously, Viggo Mortensen’s rugged, heroic, tough-yet-romantic Aragorn, a badass soldier who also happens to be the “returned king” of the third Lord of the Rings film. He’s the total package, basically. And like all fans, screenwriter Philippa Boyens, Jackson and Fran Walsh’s longtime creative collaborator on all things Rings, is hoping Mortensen will play him in Andy Serkis’ upcoming spin-off film The Hunt for Gollum.

Speaking to the Playlist, Boyens said there’s definitely going to be a part for Aragorn in the film, and the team wants Mortensen to reprise the role. However, that’s not yet a certainty. “Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage,” she explained. “I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo.”

The Gollum team has their fingers crossed, but as Boyens mentioned, the movie’s not yet ready to start nailing down its cast. “Whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is,” she said. “And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.”

The Playlist also asked Boyens what the Lord of the Rings team would do if Mortensen decides to pass on the project. “I suspect if he decides he doesn’t want to do it we would still want him to be heavily involved, like how do we hand this character off,” she said. “But literally that decision is several months away.”

Boyens said she’s still working on The Hunt for Gollum script as we speak, so whenever that’s in shape to tempt the once and (hopefully) future Aragorn, we should know more. Do you hope Mortensen returns for more brooding and sword-fighting in Middle-earth? Let us know below.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.