Peter Jackson has news for Lord of the Rings fans who want a new expanded edition

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For some movie fans, no trilogy in cinema history can match Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Based on JRR Tolkien’s beloved novels, Jackson made text magic, delivering three blockbuster films with “The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King”, a huge success which also won the Oscar for best film. It’s all been a mic drop for the ages, and over the decades fans have visited and revisited these films, especially the expanded editions, which added so much more to the Middle-earth saga. But are there still others waiting to be seen?

In an interview with Empire celebrating the 25th anniversary of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” Jackson discussed the possibility of expanded, extended cuts of the trilogy. THE ‘Lord of the Rings’ Extended Editions Already Have Much Longer Runtimes Than Theatrical Versionsbut it is hoped that even longer versions might be possible, in the style of the legendary “Mithril Cut”. Jackson, however, threw cold water on the situation. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“Are there any great scenes that we’ve never used? The answer is no. There are bits and pieces, I guess. But if you did an extended edit, or whatever we call it, it would be disappointing. It would be the extended edit with a few extra seconds of something here and there; it wouldn’t be worth doing.”

As Jackson said, there might be insignificant bits that could be added to the films, but nothing that would be worth doing. Fans would no doubt have high hopes for such a thing, and Warner Bros. could probably benefit from it, but it would also do no good if all it did was set the stage for disappointment.

Rumors of even longer edits of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy date back to scenes that were reportedly filmed but still have not been officially made available. One scene, in particular, centers on a clean-shaven young Aragorn as he courts Arwen. “There was this, it was in Lothlórien,” co-writer Philippa Boyens explained in the same Empire article. “But there aren’t many. There really aren’t.”

Still, while this may be disappointing for die-hard fans, the good news is that we’re far from done exploring Middle-earth on screen. Indeed, many other things await us within the framework of this franchise in the years to come. Granted, Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ films were widely considered a mess and not as beloved as the “Rings” trilogy, so there might be some hesitation when it comes to getting excited about new Middle-earth fare.

As for what’s on the way? The biggest is the new live-action film “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” which will be directed by Andy Serkis, the man who played Gollum in Jackson’s “Rings” films. Moreover, “The Hunt for Gollum” is just one of many films being explored by Warner Bros. Given that this is a multi-billion dollar franchise, it’s understandable that the studio would want to maintain it, if possible.

Beyond that, Amazon Prime Video also has ‘The Rings of Power’ season 3 on deck, which will feature a time jump. Whether or not the series will expand beyond that remains to be seen, but there will be plenty in the not-too-distant future, even if the so-called “Mithril Cut” doesn’t exist.

You can grab “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in 4K or Blu-ray on Amazon.