Jamie Dornan Reveals Reaction to Aragorn Casting in ‘Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum’: “I Cried”

Jamie Dornan is opening up about his emotional reaction to learning he was cast as Strider, aka Aragorn, in Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

The Fifty Shades of Grey star recently admitted to Entertainment Tonight, “I cried. I actually cried.” Dornan is taking over the role originated by Viggo Mortensen for the upcoming installment of the beloved epic fantasy franchise.

“It’s like a dream,” he added. “It’s an absolute dream and an honor to be entering that world in any capacity, let alone playing a character of such significance and such admiration, and that we all love and love what Viggo did with that role in those three films.”

The Tourist actor also shared that he wrapped filming for The Hunt for Gollum about three weeks ago, calling it an “incredible experience.”

“[I’m] incredibly honored and had a brilliant time,” he said. “I hope people welcome our story into that world because a lot of people care about it, and I really realize that. But yeah, hopefully we’ve done a good job of it.”

Dornan recently admitted during an interview with L’Officiel that he felt “pressure” following in Mortensen’s footsteps. “His performance is one of my all-time favorites, and I feel honored to try to recapture at least some of the energy he originally brought to the character. There’s no part of me that’s trying to outdo him,” he said.

Andy Serkis is directing the film and also reprising the role of Gollum. The cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Leo Woodall, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Lee Pace.

Earlier this year, Serkis told the BBC that his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work “sits absolutely between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, and books in fact.”

“It is very much a deep dive into the psychology and history of Gollum before he became Gollum, but also with a very burning question from Gandalf about what the potential origin of this ring that Bilbo Baggins has is,” the director said. “The hunt takes place in two different dimensions really and that’s about as far as I can say at the moment.”

The Hunt for Gollum is set to hit theaters on Dec. 17, 2027.