The Lord of the Rings franchise has been relatively quiet ever since The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was released in 2014. But soon things will kick off in a big way when Amazon releases their billion-dollar TV show based on Tolkien’s books. That’ll be joined by Warner Bros and New Line Pictures The War of the Rohirrim, an anime feature intended as a companion piece to the two trilogies.
Before all that, fans have been revisiting Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, which has maintained its popularity and aged like a fine wine. But one person who won’t be joining them is Dominic Monaghan, who played fellowship member Merry Brandybuck.
In an interview with GameSpot, Monaghan indicated while he treasures the memories, he’s content to leave the past behind and can’t imagine why he’d rewatch the trilogy:
“I don’t think about it that much. I don’t know how healthy it is for me to think about it or dwell on it that much … Obviously when I was working on the project I loved it, and I had the experience and the experience has obviously dictated huge parts of my life. But I’ve not seen Lord of the Rings for probably a good 15 years or so, and I’m not sure when I would or what the reason behind watching it would be … I’m obviously still great friends with a lot of the guys in it. It’s great. It’s great to do a film that I am proud of, that I think is great, that I think stands the test of time.”
That might sound surprising, though there are many actors who don’t enjoy rewatching their own movies. But Monaghan has been more than happy to acknowledge the depth of fan-feeling for them. He’s present at the various online reunions and co-hosts The Friendship Onion podcast with Billy Boyd, in which they often discuss the movies and occasionally feature other cast members.
It’s very unlikely he’ll appear in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings as it’s not connected to the Jackson trilogy and is set thousands of years before the War of the Ring, though perhaps we shouldn’t completely rule out some minor cameos.
Dominic Monaghan’s next role is Nazi bad guy Jannick Richter in the blockbuster video game Call of Duty: Vanguard, which releases on all major consoles on November 5.