Viggo Mortensen Reveals His 'Favorite' Scene from the Entire“ Lord of the Rings ”Trilogy
- - Viggo Mortensen Reveals His 'Favorite' Scene from the Entire“ Lord of the Rings ”Trilogy
Rachel RaposasJanuary 17, 2026 at 8:30 PM
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Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty; Max
Viggo Mortensen split image with a scene from 'Lord of the Rings' -
Viggo Mortensen's absolute favorite scene from the Lord of the Rings trilogy was an emotional moment with Sean Bean
"It’s such a beautiful scene. And there are no effects, there are no imaginary monsters," Mortensen said
The two actors reunited for Empire's special January edition, celebrating the franchise's 25th anniversary
Viggo Mortensen spent years playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy — and out of all the scenes he did, his absolute favorite was an emotional moment with Sean Bean.
Mortensen, 67, reunited with his former costar Bean, 66, for Empire's special January issue celebrating 25 years of the beloved franchise. In an early glimpse of the edition, published Jan. 14, Mortensen and Bean — who played Aragorn and Boromir, respectively, in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's books — revisited their time on set and unpacked one of the series' most famous scenes: Boromir's death in the first movie of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
The pivotal scene has gripped audiences in the years following the film's 2001 release — and also stuck with Mortensen.
Behind the scenes, Mortensen revealed, there was some debate over the best way to kill Boromir as people were getting tripped up over the mechanics.
"There was this whole thing about how they were gonna do all these Orc arrows that Sean was gonna get riddled with. They were trying to do all these complicated things, kinda old-school but with wires, and Sean finally said, 'Just stick it in and I’ll pretend it just hit me and I’ll do one after the other,'" Mortensen recalled, then turned to Bean to ask, "Didn’t you do it that way?"
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Sean Bean as Boromir in 'Lord of the Rings'
"I did," Bean replied. "I said, 'Let me just try something. When you say, ‘Action.' "
On the director's cue, Bean recoiled as if he had been hit by an arrow.
"And they went, 'Wow, that’s amazing!'" Bean recalled with a laugh.
The powerful scene came as Boromir was defending two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, when he was hit with an Orc arrow — then another, and another. When Boromir fell, Aragorn rushed to his side, and as he neared death, Boromir told Aragorn he was "my brother, my captain, my king."
Out of all the scenes throughout the trilogy, Boromir's death has stuck with Mortensen over the last two decades.
"That scene, I have to say, no offence to anybody else or any other part of the trilogy, but that’s maybe my favorite scene," Mortensen said.
"It’s such a beautiful scene. And there are no effects, there are no imaginary monsters. It’s just two people who have a connection in terms of their ethnicity — you know, Gondor and all that — but they’ve been at odds," Mortensen said. "They’ve been kinda butting heads until then. And then there’s just such a strong connection."
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Filming Fellowship of the Ring was a truly original experience, Bean noted, reflecting on that period of his life.
"It was such an adventure, you know? In every sense of the word. The script itself was, and the film was, but also our shenanigans and our adventures as people were… It was so unusual," he said. "I’ve never known anything like it."
The Lord of the Rings franchise turns 25 on Dec. 19, 2026.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
