10 Potential Castings We're SO Glad Didn't Happen
5. Stuart Townsend As Aragorn (The Lord Of The Rings)
Stuart Townsend is that guy you saw in that thing one time. You know the one, the guy with the face.
He’s had a fairly long and moderately successful career, but his biggest hits are probably The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Aeon Flux; hardly worth getting excited over. That all would have changed had he got the part of Aragorn, but given how much life Viggo Mortensen brought to the role, most people would be thankful for how things turned out.
Unlike a lot of picks here, Aragorn isn’t the only star of his movie. He’s closer to Han Solo, as an important part of a huge ensemble. After all, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee (the list could go on and on) all played a massive part in The Lord Of The Rings’ success.
However, Aragorn symbolised the key themes of the story the most. Though Gandalf and Frodo seemed to be the narrative stars, Aragorn is the one who truly made the movie special.
There’s nothing in Stuart Townsend’s career that suggests he’d be capable of the job Mortensen did.