When anyone hears the name Viggo Mortensen, the first thing that comes to mind is The Lord of the Rings, and rightfully so. Mortensen was tasked with playing Strider/Aragorn in all three of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies in the early 2000s, and it’s not even up for debate that the films wouldn’t be as popular as they are today if anyone else had taken up the role. Fans were devastated last month when it was announced that Mortensen would not return for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which will be released in theaters next year around Christmas. Jamie Dornan has been cast as the new Aragorn, and while he may well do a great job, Mortensen will still be missed all the same.

For now, it seems that Mortensen has officially left The Lord of the Rings behind, but that doesn’t mean he’s still not going to be around, starring in new movies. Yesterday morning, news broke that Mortensen had been cast in a new historical epic/period drama, Embers, along with Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Katherine Langford, and more. The film is adapted from Sándor Mázarai’s novel of the same name, and it’s being directed by Christopher Hampton. Jonah Russell, Evelyn Brochu, Gijs Blom, and Louis Hoffman are also attached to star in the film, and the first-look image of Mortensen and Fiennes can be found below. The official synopsis reads as follows:

“Embers reconnects once inseparable friends, Henrik (Fiennes) and Konrad (Mortensen), decades after Konrad’s mysterious disappearance and uncovers, over the course of one evening, the secret that tore them apart — and the woman at the center of it all.”

Why Isn’t Viggo Mortensen Coming Back for the New Lord of the Rings Movie?

When the official cast for the new Lord of the Rings movie was announced last week at CinemaCon, there was no explanation given for why Mortensen was being recast with Jamie Dornan. Mortensen is nearly 70 years old now, and the role of Aragorn will likely require some physical scenes, so it’s possible he passed on returning altogether. Even trying to replace Mortensen with a body double during some of the action scenes would likely draw fans out of it, which left Jamie Dornan as the only logical choice to take over the mantle.

Check out the first-look image of Embers above.

via Collider