Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has said he will never release an "extended-extended cut" of the trilogy despite still having "bits and pieces" left to add.
While the trilogy's Extended Editions add hours of extra material, fans have long known that even more was shot and never released — and have remained hopeful of an even longer, ultimate cut eventually seeing the light of day.
Unfortunately, speaking with Empire, Jackson has now ruled this out. Despite acknowledging that "bits and pieces" of unused footage exist, a full re-release of the films with this in would just "be disappointing," the director has said.
"Are there great scenes that we never used? The answer is no," Jackson said. "There are bits and pieces, I guess. But if you did an extended-extended cut, or whatever it will get called, it would be disappointing.
"It would be the extended cut with a few extra seconds of something here and there. It wouldn’t be worthwhile doing."
Famously, Arwen was once set to feature in The Two Towers' big fight sequence at Helm's Deep, and actress Liv Tyler shot scenes dressed in battle regalia. Ultimately, the plotline was cut as it would have deviated too far from the original story, and the footage has never officially been released.
Further cut Arwen footage included a flashback scene showing her meeting with Aragorn, giving viewers a chance to see Viggo Mortensen without a beard.
Other cut scenes include a sequence where Lothlórien is attacked by orcs, originally intended for Fellowship of the Ring, and shots of Éowyn fighting Uruk-hai in the Glittering Caves, trimmed from The Two Towers. And yes, the notoriously-long epilogue from Return of the King was once even longer, with scenes showing Legolas and Gimli, as well as the wedding of Éowyn and Faramir.
Could some of this footage still be released somehow, even as not part of a new, extended-extended cut? On this, Jackson sounded more hopeful, saying he'd like to revisit the making of the trilogy one day in a fresh documentary that could contain unused material. "But to this day, I haven't persuaded [the studio], because obviously it's a big undertaking," he concluded.
Jackson is returning to Middle-earth as a producer on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequel The Hunt for Gollum, which is due for release next year on December 17, 2027. Frodo actor Elijah Wood — who looks likely to reprise his role on the project — previously praised the movie for reuniting Jackson Jackson with his Middle-earth scriptwriting team Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who is set to both star in and direct the film.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
from IGN All https://ift.tt/I73PWNy
https://ift.tt/jRnBrdv
Share your thoughts here.