Peter Jackson Left This Iconic Villain Out Of His 'Hobbit' Movies

Around every Christmas, I sit and watch all six of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. They're not just comfort-watched, I think they contain every lesson you need to know about life and love.

They're sprawling movies that take us to Middle-earth and never let us go. They have so many characters and stories in them, it's hard to believe that Jackson and his team left anything out.

But recently, we learned from the director’s commentary track for The Hobbit that there was an iconic villain Jackson actually left out of that story. It turns out Jackson was actually planning to add a young Gothmog, the grotesque Orc commander from The Return of the King, to the Hobbit movies.

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This wasn't just a fleeting idea; it was a move that would have directly linked the two trilogies through their villainous ranks.

For those who need a refresher, Gothmog is the memorably ugly, almost potato-like Orc lieutenant who leads the assault on Minas Tirith. In a fascinating bit of world-building, Jackson and his team intended to introduce a younger, "adolescent" Gothmog in The Hobbit films in order to plant his existence.

The idea was to make him the nephew of either Azog the Defiler or his son, Bolg, who were the two primary Orc antagonists of the prequel trilogy.

In order to turn "The Hobbit" book into a trilogy, Jackson had to really expand on the orc villains already. He wanted to establish a villain arc over three movies, so adding in another orc just as a plant might have been hard, unless it was a visual homage for later.

Also, Jackson replaced Guillermo del Toro for The Hobbit movies, so when he went back, he was on a much tighter schedule, and they had to press onward.

While it would have been really cool to see Gothmog, the lesson speaks to a larger truth about the realities of blockbuster filmmaking.

Even for a director as accomplished as Peter Jackson, studio pressures can get in the way of doing what you want.

This is one of those fun ideas, sort of a cool "what if" for fans and but actually a cautionary tale for filmmakers. It's a reminder that even in the most fantastical of worlds, the constraints of time and money can be the hardest dragons to slay.

Let me know what you think in the comments.