Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy clocked in at over nine hours when the three films were released in cinemas in the early 2000s. Then came along the Extended Editions, bringing the trilogy’s runtime up to over 11 hours.
However, despite the extraordinary length of time Jackson allowed us to stay in Middle Earth, there have been rumours of an even more extended cut (or ‘Mithril Cut’) for years.
Now, the director has finally addressed whether the ‘Extended-Extended Edition’ exists while speaking to Empire for their Lord of The Rings 25th anniversary reunion issue.
“There are bits and pieces, I guess,” Jackson said. “But if you did an extended-extended cut, or whatever it will get called, it would be disappointing.
“It would be the extended cut with a few extra seconds of something here and there; it wouldn’t be worthwhile doing.”
New Line Cinema
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Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the films’ scripts, added: “There’s not a lot. There really isn’t.”
While Jackson has dashed hopes of an even longer cut, the director could one day make a documentary with the unreleased footage he has.
“The footage contains alternative takes, it contains bloopers, it contains a bit more of a sense of the mechanics of making the films,” Jackson said.
New Line Cinema
“But to this day, I haven’t persuaded [the studio], because obviously it’s a big undertaking.”
Meanwhile, the next instalment in the Lord of the Rings franchise, The Hunt for Gollum, is currently in development with Andy Serkis returning to his iconic role while also stepping behind the camera.
While fans had been expecting it to hit theatres later this year, Serkis shared a disappointing update last February, confirming that it won’t be ready for release until December 2027.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be released in December 2027.
Read more Lord of the Rings news on our dedicated homepage
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Reporter, Digital Spy
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