Over two decades after the conclusion of Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Warner Bros. is returning to Middle-earth for several new feature films. The upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim and The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum are just the start, which has led fans to speculate about which other parts of J. R. R. Tolkien’s lore are ripe for adaptation. Warner Bros. has not released any details about its plans following these first two films, but four key cast members from Jackson’s trilogy have spoken out about a storyline that they would like to help bring to the big screen.

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd — the actors who portrayed Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, respectively — held a question and answer panel at Steel City Con in 2022. A fan asked if they believed that Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power marked the end of their time with The Lord of the Rings, and they denied this. Astin replied that the four of them were interested in acting out the Scouring of the Shire, eliciting a wave of cheers from the audience members. As exciting as it would be to see the four original hobbits return for an addition to the story of the trilogy, the lore surrounding the Scouring of the Shire would pose problems for a potential new film in Jackson’s continuity.

What Was the Scouring of the Shire?

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The Scouring of the Shire referred to a chapter of The Lord of the Rings novel that was absent from Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In the film, the four hobbits returned to the Shire after the War of the Ring and found that little had changed. Most of them settled down and returned to the peaceful lives that they led before their harrowing adventure. Sam even got married and started a family. Frodo, however, was too traumatized by his quest. Though the Shire had not changed, he had, and he knew that he would never be content there. He therefore bid farewell to his friends and departed for the Undying Lands.

In the novel, the four hobbits instead discovered that the Shire had been industrialized in their absence. It had fallen under the rule of someone named Sharkey, and a band of ruffians — consisting of hobbits, Men, and even Half-orcs — enforced his tyranny. After leading the other inhabitants of the Shire in a rebellion against these ruffians, they learned that Sharkey was actually Saruman, whom Merry and Pippin had last seen after his defeat by the Ents. Gríma Wormtongue continued to serve Saruman, whose insults and abuse grew ever more severe. During their confrontation with the hobbits, Wormtongue suffered one indignity too many, and he murdered Saruman. He then tried to run away, but three of the Shire’s archers shot him dead.

The Scouring of the Shire Would Contradict Jackson’s Films

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• One of the visions that Frodo saw in the Mirror of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring film resembled Saruman’s capture of the Shire.
• Sharkey was a nickname that the ruffians gave Saruman; it came from the word sharkû, which meant “old man” in a language of the Orcs.
• Saruman had seemingly lost his magical powers after his defeat by the Ents.

Though these scenes would be intriguing, they would not fit into the canon of Jackson’s trilogy. The Return of the King clearly showed the hobbits returning to the Shire, and there were no signs of industrialization or Saruman’s ruffians. Even more importantly, Saruman and Wormtongue, who were both crucial to the Scouring of the Shire, died earlier in the extended edition of the film. After the Last March of the Ents, Wormtongue stabbed Saruman in the back, causing Saruman to fall from the tower of Orthanc and impale himself on a metal spike. Legolas then shoots Wormtongue with an arrow, mirroring his death from the novel.

An adaptation of The Scouring of the Shire could take place in an alternate continuity, but this would be strange if the actors, set designs, and other elements matched those of Jackson’s trilogy. Further, Sir Christopher Lee passed away in 2015, so his version of Saruman could not return even in a non-canon fashion. Another problem with turning the Scouring of the Shire into a feature film would be its length, as the event made up only a single chapter in The Lord of the Rings. Jackson’s The Hobbit films received criticism for stretching the plot of a relatively short novel into an entire trilogy by taking liberties with Tolkien’s source material. An adaptation of the Scouring of the Shire would likely face this same scrutiny.

A Scouring of the Shire Film Could Work in a Different Medium

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• Jackson told Lee to scream when Wormtongue stabbed Saruman in the back, but as a World War II veteran, Lee knew this was an unrealistic reaction and corrected him.
• In the novel, the hobbits of Bywater are nicknamed the region in which Saruman died at Sharkey’s End.
• Sam undid Saruman’s deforestation by planting new trees in the soil from Lothlórien that Galadriel gifted to him.

All of these problems have a single solution: the Scouring of the Shire should be an animated movie. All four of the hobbit actors have experience as voice actors; among other roles, Wood played Jace in Star Wars Resistance, Astin played Raphael in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, and Monaghan and Boyd played Archibald and Garmelie in The Legend of Vox Machina, respectively. This would fall in line with The War of the Rohirrim, in which Miranda Otto will return to voice an animated version of Éowyn. It would also remove the need to use makeup or CGI to make the hobbit actors resemble their younger selves. A talented voice actor could impersonate Lee’s performance as Saruman, which would be a respectful way to honor his impact on the character.

Additionally, a change in medium would distance the Scouring of the Shire film from Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings by creating an inherent disconnect between art styles, thus rendering any lore inconsistencies less jarring. This would be similar to Marvel’s What If…?, which reimagined the stories of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the same characters — and often the same actors — in different situations. A shorter runtime would also be expected from an animated film. Such an adaptation of The Scouring of the Shire could recapture the magic of Jackson’s trilogy without trying to directly copy that which came before.

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a series of epic fantasy adventure films and television series based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels. The films follow the adventures of humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits and more in Middle-earth.

First Film

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Latest Film

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

First Episode Air Date

September 1, 2022

Cast

Elijah Wood , Viggo Mortensen , Orlando Bloom , Sean Astin , Billy Boyd , Dominic Monaghan , Sean Bean , Ian McKellen , Andy Serkis , Hugo Weaving , Liv Tyler , Miranda Otto , Cate Blanchett , John Rhys-Davies , Martin Freeman , Morfydd Clark , Ismael Cruz Cordova , Charlie Vickers , Richard Armitage

Character(s)

Gollum , Sauron

Video Game(s)

LEGO Lord of the Rings , Lord of the Rings Online , The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum , The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age , The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , The Lord of the Rings: War in the North , The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth , The Lord of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth 2 , The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Where to Stream

Max , Prime Video , Hulu

Summary

The Lord of the Rings is a long-running fantasy franchise created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The core series consists of four primary books: The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and The Return of the King, all of which have been adapted into films. The Lord of the Rings core franchise centers around Frodo Baggins, a living being known as a hobbit, and a group of heroes from the various kingdoms such as the kingdom of man, the kingdom of dwarves, and the kingdom of elves. Together with the great wizard Gandalf, the group will embark on a perilous quest across Middle Earth to take The One Ring to Mount Doom to destroy it, before it can corrupt anyone and return to the hands of the evil entity known as Sauron, hellbent on conquering all of Middle Earth. The original novel/prequel films, The Hobbit, stars Frodo’s uncle Bilbo Baggins as he embarks on a quest from the comfort of his home and seeks the treasure of a dragon known as Smaug. Bilbo stumbles upon The One Ring on his quest, and finds himself amidst a great war. The most recent media for the franchise is the currently airing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, airing exclusively on Prime Video.

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