„I Couldn’t Believe What I Saw”. Here's Why Saruman Actor Christopher Lee Boycotted The Lord of the Rings Premiere

As a gamer who has spent countless hours immersed in the rich world of Middle Earth, I must admit that the absence of Saruman in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was a bitter pill to swallow. Having witnessed Christopher Lee’s masterful portrayal of this complex character, his sudden disappearance left a gaping hole that no other villain could fill quite the same way.


In Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” films, Christopher Lee brought to life an unforgettable character, Saruman. We last saw this role of his at the end of “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.” After that, his character mysteriously vanished without any further explanation about his destiny in the subsequent movies.

This astonished both LOTR enthusiasts and Lee himself, who, upon attending the showing of the third movie, was taken aback to find that a crucial element was absent from the screen. He shared this tale during a trip to University College Dublin in 2011.

In private screenings, when the third movie rolled, I was taken aback since I wasn’t featured in it. This particular scene was crucial because it depicted the climactic battle between the Fellowship and their arch-nemesis, Saruman, the most malevolent of them all, yet this pivotal showdown was missing from the film. The audience, including Tolkien and movie enthusiasts alike, were left bewildered, asking “Whatever happened to Saruman?” as they had expected to see him in the first two films.

Lee found the director’s decision highly upsetting, leading him to refuse attending the premiere of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King“. However, they eventually made amends, and Lee later agreed to be part of “The Hobbit“, a film that Jackson directed.

In a nutshell, the director shared his reasoning behind abruptly ending Saruman’s storyline in the films. He felt that including a seven-minute summary of the Battle of Helm’s Deep in the second part wouldn’t work, and initially planned to place it at the start of the third film. However, he ultimately decided against it because it didn’t align with the overall concept. Initially, the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King appeared more like a continuation from the previous movie instead of a fresh start for the new one.

Consequently, Jackson opted to incorporate these specific scenes into the expanded edition, an option that initially could only be accessed through DVDs.

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2024-09-20 20:31