Viggo Mortensen's Reason for Turning Down THE HOBBIT

I'm not sure how this would have worked, but Viggo Mortensen was asked if he'd be interested in coming back to reprise his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. Apparently Mortenson didn't see how it made sense either, so he declined. Here's what he had to say in a recent interview with The Guardian when they asked him if he was approached to be in the new movies,

Before they started shooting, back in 2008, one of the producers did ask if I would be interested. I said, 'You do know, don't you, that Aragorn isn't in The Hobbit? That there is a 60-year gap between the books?' 

I'm interested in seeing that world again, and seeing what Peter Jackson's done, how he's made use of the improvements in special effects and cameras and the different way of shooting, which will probably enhance the visual aspect of the experience, the sound also. And I'm interested in seeing how he's managed to make three movies out of a relatively slim volume…Jackson is a clever person – I'm sure he'll have done something really interesting with it.

He also revealed that he has yet to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Mortensen has previously said that he'd consider returning to Middle Earth if they told the right story where his character fit it, but that will never happen. Jackson has said that these Hobbit movies are the last Middle Earth films that we'll see. It's kind of sad, because there's still so much story out there to tell.