In an interview with The Lord of the Rings star, Viggo Mortensen, he reveals that he was approached early in The Hobbit’s production to reprise his role as Aragorn.

Viggo Mortensen was a massive part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s success, and we’re not surprised to hear that one of the producers of The Hobbit approached him in pre-production about reprising his role of Aragorn. Viggo, being a massive fan of the novels reportedly told the producer that he wasn’t interested, seeing as “there is a 60-year gap between [the] books.”

Viggo explained his reasoning in the quote below, but also mentioned that he is very interested in seeing “that world” again, and he seems even more interested in seeing the advancements in technology since The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed over a decade ago.

Fellowship of the Ring came to theaters in 2001, and the cast and crew started filming more than a year before its release. Check out what Viggo had to say about The Hobbit below:

“Before they started shooting, back in 2008, one of the producers did ask if I would be interested. 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?’

I’m interested in seeing that world again, and seeing what Peter Jackson’s done, how he’s made use of the improvements in special effects and cameras and the different way of shooting, which will probably enhance the visual aspect of the experience, the sound also. And I’m interested in seeing how he’s managed to make three movies out of a relatively slim volume…Jackson is a clever person – I’m sure he’ll have done something really interesting with it.”

Viggo (and Aragorn) has a very loyal fanbase, and we imagine they would have loved to have seen the actor reprising his role in a flash forward of sorts, like we saw with Elijah Wood and his character Frodo’s appearance in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. But it’s definitely nice to hear an actor stick to his guns and not do a disservice to the source material.

Mortensen went on to say in the interview with The Play List that he’s focused on his adaptation of the 1957 book The Horsecatcher by Mari Sandoz, and he plans on directing the film if it’s able to get off the ground. Mortensen is a massive talent, so we look forward to seeing anything that he’s involved with in the next few years.

Part two of The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug, will be released December 13, 2013. There and Back Again will be released December 17, 2014