Peter Jackson Sets the Record Straight on Major Lord of the Rings Myth

Look, as someone who enjoys exactly zero hours piecing together fan edits of fantasy epics, I still get why the notion of a supercut of Lord of the Rings—yes, the so-called 'Mithril Cut'—has a certain hobbit-sized appeal. All those Gandalf monologues! All those elves! But it turns out that the long-whispered-about ultra-mega-version? It just isn’t a thing. Sorry, Tolkien obsessives, but Peter Jackson himself has officially shot down the speculation.

Here's the deal with the (nonexistent) Mithril Cut

First, a quick refresher: There's already a couple versions of each Lord of the Rings movie—original theatrical cuts for Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, plus a set of extended editions. The extended versions are already pretty enormous, adding umpteen extra scenes that some fans swear make everything richer and others (me) use as an excuse to go get snacks every thirty minutes.

But recently, internet rumor mills have been grinding out talk of a mythical 'Mithril Cut,' an 'even more extended' edition. Think 'extended-extended.' The sort of cut that sounds like it would require its own shelf and maybe a long weekend to get through.

The Man Himself: Jackson Weighs In

Turns out, not only does this legendary 'Mithril Cut' not exist—it wouldn't even deliver for fans if it did. Jackson was blunt about it in an interview with Empire:

'Are there great scenes that we never used? The answer is no. There are bits and pieces, I guess. But if you did an extended-extended cut, or whatever it will get called, it would be disappointing. It would be the extended cut with a few extra seconds of something here and there; it wouldn’t be worthwhile doing.'

Basically: there just isn't a secret vault stuffed with brilliant, unseen Middle-earth material. Unless you're dying to see three more seconds of orc grunting. (I'm not.)

What about those Arwen and Aragorn scenes?

Some rumors are based on talk that more footage exists of Aragorn and Arwen's romance. Which, if you know your deep-dive Tolkien message boards, is the kind of tidbit that launches a thousand Reddit threads. Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the scripts, even admitted, 'There was that. It was in Lothlorien... but there's not a lot. There really isn't.'

So, what does exist?

• The raw footage does apparently include alternate takes, a few bloopers, and some behind-the-scenes looks at the filmmaking process.
• The only thing even close to a 'Mithril Cut' would be—someday—some kind of making-of documentary, which Jackson floated as a 'maybe, possibly, if the studio ever lets him.'

So don't throw out your extended sets; that's still as close as we're going to get to the 'everything including the kitchen sink' version.

Quick reminder: Why all the fuss?

In case you forgot how massive Jackson’s trilogy was: the three movies pulled in just about $3 billion worldwide, racked up 30 Oscar nominations, and won a jaw-dropping 17 Academy Awards—including 11 for Return of the King. Seriously, that last one tied the record for most Oscars ever for a single film.

So, next time you see someone online demanding the, uh, 'Vibranium Cut' (wrong universe, to be clear), you'll know exactly what's what. The Lord of the Rings: still epic, still not getting longer.