Peter Jackson is negotiating with Warner Bros. to extend his two-part adaptation of J.R.R.Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” into three films. Added to “The Lord of the Rings” triptych, that would make a Middle-earth six-pack – though, since Jackson doesn’t have the rights to Tolkien’s posthumously published “The Silmarillion,” the seven-part Star Wars and eight-part Harry Potter franchises seem unlikely to be outflanked in terms of chapters.
A “Hobbit” triptych (as opposed to a “trilogy,” which implies separate stories) is a distinct possibility. The Los Angeles Times reports that Jackson “has concluded that there is enough material from the book, as well as the extensive appendices to ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ to make a third film, according to three people who were not authorized to speak publicly. New Line Cinema, the Warner Bros. unit overseeing production of the movies, is eager to see it happen, and talks are underway with actors and others who would need to sign off on the plan.”
Because new deals must be made with “numerous rights-holders and actors,” the Times adds, the third film is not guaranteed to happen. “Lead actors in particular hold leverage as they know New Line would need them for the picture.” Some of the actors and rights-holders only signed up for two films. Talks with Martin Freeman (who plays Bilbo Baggins) and Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and other actors have been taking place.
There are no details yet of how Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens would stretch “The Hobbit” into three. The Times speculates that the Battle of the Five Armies, which climaxes the book, would be held over to the third part. That would theoretically allow Bilbo’s pivotal encounter with Smaug in his treasure-crammed lair and the dragon’s last flight to climax part two.
What would Jackson and company import from the “LOTR” appendices, which stretch to 102 pages (though not all is in narrative form)? It had been rumored that Jackson had wanted to find a way of working “LOTR”’s Strider/Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) into “The Hobbit,” as he did Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom). In the partial tale of Aragorn and Arwen included in Appendix A, Tolkien tells of the slaying of Aragorn’s grandfather by hill-trolls, his father’s murder by orcs, and describes his meeting with Arwen and early courtship of her. So the filmmakers have license to integrate Mortensen and Liv Tyler, who played Arwen in “LOTR," and they could perhaps do it through a tale told by Gandalf.
The corresponding (and action-packed) tale of the romance of Lúthien the half-elven and the mortal man Beren – which costs the maid her immortality, as marriage to Aragon costs Arwen hers – could also be incorporated. It is not only told by Aragorn to the hobbits in “LOTR,” but mentioned in Appendix A: “Together they wrested a silmaril [a talismanic Elven jewel] from the Iron Crown of Morgoth,” under whom Sauron served as a lieutenant. How good does that sound?