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SYFY WIRE reunions

Peter Jackson breaks down Boromir's meme-able scene during Lord of the Rings reunion

By Josh Weiss
Sean Bean Lord of the Rings

One reunion to rule them all, one reunion to find them, one reunion to bring them all...and in the darkness bind them...

For the latest episode of Reunited Apart, Josh Gad brought together the cast and crew behind Peter Jackson's beloved Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Jackson himself touched on the first movie's immense cultural influence by providing some context for Boromir's (Sean Bean) "One does not simply walk into Mordor" line, which is now famous for being a meme.

"That entire speech that Sean had to deliver at the Council of Elrond was written the night before. It's long and we gave it to Sean the morning he arrived. What Sean did, which I thought was really clever, is he got a print-out of the speech taped to his knee. It was on his knee and when he did that scene, you'll see...," Jackson said, mimicking the way Boromir puts his fingers on his forehead and looks down in exasperation. "If you watch the scene now, you'll see every time that Sean has to check his script."

The reunion, held to benefit No Kid Hungry, also included Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), Billy Boyd (Pippin Took), Dominic Monaghan (Merry Brandybuck), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), Liv Tyler (Arwen), Hugo Weaving (Elrond), Miranda Otto (Éowyn), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Sean Bean (Boromir), Karl Urban (Éomer), and composer Howard Shore.

Taika Waititi briefly popped into the Zoom chat for a delightful lightning round of Tolkien trivia. Unfortunately, Stephen Colbert, a mega-super-ultra fan of the high fantasy series who had a small role in The Desolation of Smaug, was not a part of the festivities.

Most poignantly, the gathered talent took the time to remember the late Christopher Lee (he played the evil wizard Saruman and passed away in 2015) and dialect coach Andrew Jack (who passed away in late March from the novel coronavirus).

While Ian Holm (who played the older version of Bilbo Baggins) could not be present for the virtual event, he did send along the following message, which was read by Gad: 

"Dearest friends ... I am sorry I cannot see you in person. I miss you all and hope you're adventures are taking you to many places. I am in lockdown in my hobbit home or 'Holm.' With all my love, Ian Holm."

The episode closed out with Rhys-Davies donning a fez and reciting Sallah's famous "bad dates" line from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Bernard Hill (King Théoden) pops up in a post-credits stinger for a gag in which he shows up late to the party because it took him forever to find his character's battle helmet. "Bugger," he says upon realizing that everyone else is gone.

Fans will be able return to Middle-Earth with Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show.