The years 2021-2023 mark the 20th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, and to celebrate, the four actors who play the four hobbits have been on the convention circuit. They have regaled the fans with countless anecdotes from filming, and talked about their bond with the rest of the fellowship.
Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who play Merry and Pippin, are particularly close out of everyone in The Lord of the Rings cast. At a convention in Atlanta, Monaghan even revealed that he and Boyd want to be buried with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen). This is for a heart-warming reason that comes directly from JRR Tolkien’s books, but which there wasn’t time for in the fantasy movies – despite Return of the King having six endings.
Monaghan says; “I don’t know if you guys are aware but in the appendices, Merry and Pippin – after everything calms down, and there’s the scouring of the shire and they go to visit their families – they go off and they go and see Aragorn. And Merry and Pippin are actually buried with Aragorn.”
Monaghan continues, with interjections from Boyd; “We’ve been pitching to Viggo that in our actual deaths, Billy and I would like to be just… laid down next to him. Now, Billy and I are 100% in. Viggo I would say – probably 12 or 13%? ‘Over my dead body,’ he said. And we were like; ‘well, that’s actually how we want it.’ He then said that he’s 100% out, but we’ll keep asking him. Yeah, we’ll get him. He’ll be dead. He’ll die waaaaaay before us. So he’ll have no idea.”
The end of 2023 will mark the end of the three-year-long The Lord of the Rings 20th anniversary celebrations. One of the last stops for the four hobbits at the center of The Lord of the Rings cast will be Los Angeles Comic Con in December, which may be attended by TDF – we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the Rings of Power season 2 and to House of the Dragon season 2. You should also make sure to seek out our guide to the best Lord of the Rings characters and to the Lord of the Rings filming locations.