Viggo Mortensen Replaced as Aragorn in ‘Hunt for Gollum’

(UPI) — Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have unveiled the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

The studios announced the casting Tuesday during the Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

New faces to the franchise include Jamie Dornan (50 Shades of Grey) as the Dúnedain ranger Strider, aka Aragorn, and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus Season 2) as another Dúnedain named Halvard. Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen will reprise their Lord of the Rings characters, the hobbit Frodo Baggins and the wizard Gandalf, while Lee Pace will return as his Hobbit character, the elf Thranduil.

Kate Winslet, who was previously reported to join the franchise, will play the character Marigol.

The Hunt for Gollum is directed by and will star Andy Serkis, who portrayed Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. The new film takes place before the Lord of the Rings trilogy and follows Aragorn and Gandalf as they search for Gollum and his mysterious ring.

The recasting of Aragon was necessary because this era calls for a different interpretation of the character in terms of how he is physically represented, since this timeline calls for a young Aragorn. Although with contemporary technologies such as digital de-aging, it is feasible to use a single actor for portraying him at multiple stages of life, that idea was abandoned in favor of realism and believability.

The Hunt for Gollum opens in theaters in December 2027.

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