Serkis Confirms Mortensen Approves Dornan as Aragorn

Andy Serkis, director and star of the upcoming film "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum," confirmed that Viggo Mortensen has given his full approval to Jamie Dornan taking over the role of Aragorn, known as Strider, in the Warner Bros. production set for release on December 17, 2027.

The casting news, revealed at CinemaCon earlier this year, marks a significant shift for the interquel, which is positioned in the Middle-earth timeline between "The Hobbit" trilogy and the early events of "The Fellowship of the Ring." The story follows Aragorn and Gandalf as they track Gollum to uncover details about Bilbo's ring, which proves to be the One Ring threatening Middle-earth. Serkis, reprising his role as the titular creature from Peter Jackson's original trilogy and "The Hobbit" films, addressed the recasting during an appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz.

"I really, really don't want to go into it right now because I do want to save that for further down the line," Serkis said. "We're at a kind of crunch stage now, we're just about to start shooting. I'm gonna save all discussion about casting, other than that we are thrilled that Jamie's...