One does not just turn down The Hobbit, unless you're Viggo Mortensen.
Making the publicity rounds for his latest film, the Spanish-language Everybody Has a Plan, the 54-year-old actor revealed he was approached about possibly reprising his role as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings trilogy in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
However, he had a very sensible reason for turning down the prequel—his character is nowhere to be found in original novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, which served as a prequel to the Rings saga and takes place 60 years earlier.
"Before they started shooting, back in 2008, one of the producers did ask if I would be interested," Mortensen told the UK's Guardian. "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?"
Though as anyone who's seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, can tell you, some of his costars from the original Oscar-winning trilogy did turn up in The Hobbit, including Elijah Wood who appears briefly as Frodo Baggins while Orlando Bloom is expected to slip on those pointy ears again to play the Elf prince Legolas in an upcoming part of the series.
Of course we know why. Elves and Hobbits have a longer life span than humans, natch!