Sean Bean could have played Aragon in The Lord of the Rings.
Sean Bean could have portrayed Aragon in The Lord of the Rings
The 66-year-old actor famously portrayed the ill-fated Boromir in 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, but Bean has now revealed he was considered for the Ranger of the North before Viggo Mortensen was cast in the role.
During an appearance on the Happy, Sad Confused podcast, Bean said: “There was talk about Aragorn at one point, and I know Barrie Osborne, one of the producers, I think he was quite keen on me to play Aragorn.
“But I mean, you know, I was playing Boromir, settled on that, and then Viggo came along, and he made a magnificent Aragorn.”
In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, young hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) inherits a powerful ring that must be destroyed to prevent the dark lord Sauron from conquering Middle-earth.
He sets out with a fellowship of allies on a perilous journey to Mordor, where the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
In the film, Boromir dies heroically defending Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) from an onslaught of Uruk-hai, struck by multiple arrows before succumbing to his wounds.
Following the original trilogy’s conclusion in 2003, The Lord of the Rings will be expanded with Andy Serkis’s The Hunt for Gollum, which is due to release in December 2027.
The movie will take place during the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, and will see Aragorn (Mortensen) go on a quest to find Smeagol/Gollum (Serkis).
However, 66-year-old Mortensen has not yet signed on to reprise Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Mortensen previously reavealed he would consider playing Aragon again, though would only do so if it made sense for his age and the story.
The Green Book star told GQ: “I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.
“I don’t know exactly what the story is, I haven’t heard. Maybe I’ll hear about it eventually. I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot.”
While Serkis will direct The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, series helmer Sir Peter Jackson will serve as producer.
The filmmaker previously explained that it made more sense to explore Gollum/Smeagol with his own spin-off movie than the likes of Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) or Legolas (Orlando Bloom).
Jackson told Deadline, he said: “The Gollum/Smeagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic.
“I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us.
“We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films.”