The Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen has said blockbuster Hollywood franchises are “not usually that good” and “kind of predictable.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Mortensen commented on why he hasn’t returned to a major franchise after his role as Aragorn in the beloved The Lord of the Rings trilogy from the early 2000s. He made clear he’s not against the idea but just prioritises interesting stories over particular budgets or directors.
“I don’t really look for or avoid any kind of genre or any size budget; I just look for interesting stories,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me what the genre is or what the budget is or who’s making them. I would never do a movie just because so-and-so is directing it. It has to be about the story, and if I think I’m right for the character. That always comes first.”
Mortensen continued: “That goes for franchises. If somebody came to me with X movie, the third part or the ninth part, and I thought it was a great character and I wanted to play that character and I thought I had something to contribute, I’d do it. I’m not against it. But they’re not usually that good. I mean, to me, they’re not usually that well written. They’re kind of predictable. I mean, of course there’s always the issue of if I run out of money.”
The Lord of the Rings trilogy arguably came before franchises fully took over Hollywood, which perhaps began when Iron Man kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. Many are now looking for a similar level of success as the indomitable MCU, evidenced by the likes of DC Studios hiring Peter Safran and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn to lead a new, unified DC Universe following its original attempt’s shortcomings.
Lord of the Rings itself is now perhaps guilty of this too, as the beloved original trilogy was followed up with The Hobbit trilogy beginning in 2012, which wasn’t as well received. Amazon has also continued the franchise with its The Rings of Power TV show, and animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim premieres on December 13, 2024.
Most recently announced, however, is Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a deep dive investigation of Gollum’s character directed by actor Andy Serkis. It was announced alongside word from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslaz that The Lord of the Rings is a “largely underused” franchise that his company is “hard at work fixing.” This echoed comments from the CEO of The Lord of the Rings owner Embracer Group, Lars Wingefors, who said the company needs to be “exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion.”
The Hunt for Gollum, which will be the first of at least two new The Lord of the Rings films, was seemingly announced before it had a story in place, too. “We really want to explore [Gollum’s] backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films,” co-writer and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies director Peter Jackson said. “It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from [original author J.R.R. Tolkien].”
Mortensen has already said he’d be open to returning for The Hunt for Gollum but, similar to what he told Vanity Fair, it would have to make sense for him and his character. The 85-year-old Gandalf actor Ian McKellen said he’s open to it too as long as he’s still alive.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
