Viggo Mortensen Says Modern Franchises Are “Not Usually That Good”

Viggo Mortensen at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2018. Courtesy of Caitlin Cronenberg.

Viggo Mortensen recently shared insight into why he hasn’t starred in another major Hollywood franchise following the Oscar-winning juggaernaut ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. Mortensen played Aragorn in all 3 of Peter Jackson directed films.

The actor spoke to Vanity Fair about what he looks for in a movie — an interesting story and a well-written screenplay. He then admitted that films in franchises are “not usually that good.”

“I don’t really look for or avoid any kind of genre or any size budget. I just look for interesting stories,” Mortensen said. “It doesn’t matter to me what the genre is or what the budget is or who’s making them. I would never do a movie just because so-and-so is directing it. It has to be about the story. And if I think I’m right for the character, that always comes first.”

He continued: “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.”

There’s been recent speculation if Mortensen will reprise his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s new movie (producer) ‘Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.’

“I haven’t read a script. So I don’t know,” Mortensen said in response to the intrigue. “The script is the most important thing to me unless I’m broke, I have no money and I’m lucky to get any job. So it depends.”

Warner Bros. will release the first of its new line of live-action movies in 2026, with Andy Serkis to star (returning) as Gollum and direct the ‘Gollum’ feature.