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Elijah Wood may or may not have confirmed that Viggo Mortensen will not be reprising his role as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, host Josh Horowitz brought up the forthcoming film and said, “Tough act to follow for someone to play Aragorn… Leo Woodall, that’s true.”

Wood replied, “Right, that is true. That’s gonna be tough… Those are tough boots [to fill]… but that’s gonna be great.”

The film was officially announced in May 2024, with none other than Andy Serkis set to direct and reprise his role as Gollum. The film adapts the story of the same name that can be found in the appendices of the original Lord of the Rings novel. In the story, Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may divulge information about the One Ring to Sauron and sends Aragorn off on a quest to find him.

Sir Ian McKellan is returning as Gandalf (and Wood hasn’t officially confirmed his return as Frodo), but it looks like Mortensen will be sitting this one out. This is most likely because of the timeline in which the story takes place, which requires a much younger Aragorn. The rumored choice has indeed been Woodall, who’s currently busy being a heartthrob on various Netflix shows, including One Day and Vladimir.

The Hunt for Gollum arrives on December 17, 2027. In the meantime, fill out your watchlist with our guide to all the most exciting upcoming movies of the year.