While waiting for the next films and TV episodes on The Lord of the Rings, let’s relive the mythical past of the Middle-earth franchise thanks to a curious anecdote dating back to the original trilogy of The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson.
One of many production masterpieces that made Peter Jackson’s films what they have become lies in the author’s ability to translate JRR Tolkien’s novel for the big screen by making the right ‘cinematic’ changes while respecting the original story, cutting and changing where necessary and above all always managing to best judge when to intervene with your own adaptation and when to stay true to the book.
This last point is particularly crucial, given that not everyone knows that Warner Bros wanted to give a more tragic edge to The Lord of the Rings and told Peter Jackson to kill one of the four hobbit protagonists, with the choice falling on Merry, the friendly hobbit played by Dominic Monaghan and inseparable friend of Pippin (Billy Boyd): not being able to ‘kill’ either Frodo or Sam, and since Pippin would have had a great story arc with Gandalf in The Return of the King, the producers told Peter Jackson to kill Merry, but the director’s refusal was adamant, because it would have been too important a change compared to the source material, which would certainly have had a strong shock value for the public but which at the same time would not have added anything to the stories of the protagonists. Also from these decisions you can appreciate the great work done by Peter Jackson in adapting a novel that before him had been deemed unfeasible on the big screen.
We remember that Peter Jackson will return to the world of The Lord of the Rings thanks to the new live-action film The Hunt for Gollum, which will be released in 2026.
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