Viggo Mortensen declined to return as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ because he believes characters should only appear when it genuinely serves J.R.R. Tolkien's original story rather than being brought back for nostalgia.  Key Reasons for Turning Down the Role:  
Timeline Mismatch: The film is set in the timeline between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings requiring a younger Aragorn in his 40s. Aversion to De-Aging: Mortensen felt that using digital CGI or de-aging technology to make him look younger would feel forced and unnatural.  Physical Demands: At 67 years old, he recognized his physical limitations for the heavy action and combat scenes required of a main physical lead like Aragorn.  Consistency with Past Choices: He previously declined a cameo in The Hobbit trilogy because Aragorn was not in those books, maintaining a strict respect for Tolkien's source material and narrative boundaries.

It’ll be hard at first getting used to watching someone other than Viggo playing Aragorn/Strider.

The most intelligent person in this whole enterprise is definitely Viggo.

You are never late nor are you early. You hunt for Gollum precisely when you mean to.

When are screenwriters going to learn that changing characters and plot elements in a cultural icon like Lord of the Rings angers fans in the audience?

I can't wait for this particular movie.  Fantasy has had a rough ride in many quarters recently and I am trusting Serkis and the original group that gave us LOTR to maintain the respect they showed in the past for this world.

recently I had a conversation with some friends over this movie, the conclusion was that no one of us understands who this movie is even for or who even was asking for this story

Filming in Hobbiton, here is to hoping the white car makes a comeback driving off into the distance again!

Aah, so smeagol, in the end, will be killed by a goblin or troll who then steals his loincloth and says: "I'm the real smeagol now"😅

Rings of Power doesn't actually tell the story of the 2nd age.  It's some kind of alternate timeline that the showrunners are making up as they go and has very little to do with what Tolkien actually wrote on the subject.

What I want to know is; who the hell are Smay-gull and Day-gull. I always thought their names were SMEE-gol and DEE-gol.

Viggo is a class act.

the CGI in the LotR trilogy was so far ahead of its time. I can't believe those fx are 24 years old

I'm excited to see a movie where Andy Serkis gives us a window into Gollum's mind. No one could do it better. I am also happy that Serkis gets a chance to be the main director. I hope they make videos documenting the production.

As long as it has Howard shore, I know it cant be all bad.

Vigo Mortensen has said himself that he couldn't play Aragorn in The Hunt for Gollum as he is 67 yrs old and the film requires a lot of energy, running around and generally being very fit.

I would rather watch a movie about The hunt for Gollum, than a movie about Gollum being hunted.

Can you imagine the amount of trust that Gandalf had to have in Aragorn to involve him directly in the hunt, and later protection of the bearers of the ring that corrupted his ancestor? That was an amazing gamble, and it payed off. I like to think that Gandalf knew it all along that Aragorn had it in him. It really shows just how wise Gandalf actually was.

OMG the feels! Brings back so many good memories.

Fascinating, thank you.