Lord of the Rings Director Was Pressured To Kill One Of The Hobbits Says Star

[Animous]

The director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, was pressured by producers to kill off one of the beloved Hobbits in the film franchise, despite all four of them surviving in the corresponding novels, according to one of the trilogy's stars, Dominic Monaghan. First released in 2001, the Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of epic fantasy adventure films based on the novels by J R. R. Tolkien. Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the journey of Frodo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire, and his companion Samwise “Sam” Gamgee, as they embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring.

Shot in New Zealand and featuring an ensemble cast of well-known and respected actors, namely Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Andy Serkis, the films are regarded as some of the greatest cinematic releases ever. Dominic Monaghan portrayed the hobbit Meriadoc "Merry Brandybuck in the film trilogy. He also recently launched a podcast called The Friendship Onion along with his LOTR costar, Billy Boyd, who played the hobbit Peregrin "Pippin" Took in the films. Throughout the comedic podcast's episodes, the two stars discuss pop culture news and also share exclusive behind-the-scenes stories from their time filming the LOTR trilogy.

RELATED:Lord Of The Rings: How Gandalf Got His Ring Of Power (& What Happened To It)

Almost two decades on from the last film’s release, the duo reminisced on some of their most memorable moments from filming the trilogy in an interview with IGN. Alongside discussions of how their podcast came to be, some of the scenes they had to shoot multiple times, the weapon training, and how Boyd’s singing convinced the co-writer to incorporate a song into the script for Pippin, the pair also mentioned how Jackson was being pressured by producers to kill off one of the four main hobbits. Having assessed each character’s part in the series, Monaghan concluded that Merry probably would’ve been their choice, and how relieved he is that it didn’t come to fruition. Read what Monaghan said below:

"It’s a good job that didn’t happen, because it would have been me. It definitely would have. There’s no way they are killing Frodo and Sam, and the only ones that would be left would be Merry and Pippin. They wouldn’t kill Pippin because Pippin has a really strong story with Gandalf. It would have definitely been me. I think Pete quite rightly was like, ‘This is a luminary piece of written work, and we need to stick close to the text.’ So, he stuck by his guns. Yeah, I’m thankful that didn’t happen."

Monaghan’s reference to Jackson’s wariness of straying from the text and his determination to keep all of the novelized characters alive as Tolkien wrote, proves that he was the right director to bring this story to life for dedicated Lord of the Rings fans. If they had killed off Merry, the iconic duo who provided comic relief during the toughest, darkest moments in all three films would have disintegrated, negatively changing the tone of the epic fantasy. Monaghan’s commentary on how he narrowed down the choices to his hobbit character sparks thoughts on how the franchise would’ve turned out if any one of the main four halflings hadn’t made it to the end of the quest. The finale of all the friends reuniting would’ve been a moment of heartbreak rather than rejoice if one had been missing, and it’s clear from both Monaghan’s relief and the popularity of the films, that Jackson made the right decision fighting the producers’ wishes.

Many book to movie adaptations receive huge hordes of criticism for failing to properly engage with the source material, and many of the critiques are down to major character changes. As a result of his decisions, Jackson is now the third-highest-grossing film director of all time, from his success on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy that followed. It’s interesting to think of how another director may have caved to the producers’ will and strayed from the text for shock factor or an attempt at a dramatic unveiling. But Jackson’s cinematography skills proved he didn’t need to make that decision to achieve the anticipation that these films garnered worldwide. Knowing his impact on the other hobbits, fans around the world will surely be pleased that Merry didn’t vanish halfway through the franchise

[Silent Watcher]

Avoid unnecessary posts such as 'Thank you', 'Welcome', etc. Such posts will be deleted and user will be warned if it happens again. If caught spamming, the following actions are applicable -

• First time - Warning
• Second time - 5000 Points will be deducted
• Third time - Ban for 7 days
• Fourth time - Permanent Ban

If the post helped you, reward the user by reacting to the post like this -