Warner Bros. has stated that Jamie Dornan will play Strider or Aragorn in the upcoming film Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. This information was released at CinemaCon 2026, which took place on April 14th in Las Vegas. In the previous trilogy of movies, Viggo Mortensen had played this character.
43-year-old Jamie Dornan will bring to life Aragorn’s younger self in the film in the form of Strider (the name used by Aragorn when he is introduced to audiences through The Fellowship of the Ring). Andy Serkis will be returning to play the roles of Gollum and Sméagol. As reported by Warner Bros. via Instagram, “We've been waiting for you, precious.”
Some of the most famous faces have returned to their roles in the film. Gandalf the Grey will be played by Ian McKellen for the second consecutive time. Frodo Baggins will again be portrayed by Elijah Wood. Additionally, Lee Pace will reprise a role, having taken on Thranduil in The Hobbit Trilogy for a second time.
Earlier, the director had made clear that Mortensen wouldn’t be coming back for the movie. In an interview, he explained, Let's just say we are recasting the role and we are on the way to finding someone.” Mortensen, now 67 years old, too has been hesitant to return to big franchises. He said, “If I think I’m right for the character, that always comes first. 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 Hunt for Gollum takes place after The Hobbit and before The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson will again produce work. He worked with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens to co-write the series. Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou also helped out with writing, as well. Jamie Dornan last appeared in A Haunting in Venice and Heart of Stone and was also seen in the second season of The Tourist recently.
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