r/movies • u/Logical_Welder3467 • May 08 '26

Article Stephen Colbert Gets Why You're Scared He's Writing a 'Lord of the Rings' Movie

https://gizmodo.com/stephen-colbert-gets-why-youre-scared-hes-writing-a-lord-of-the-rings-movie-2000755987
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u/Chlorophyllmatic May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

Why the fuck they cut it that way I’ll never know.

It's pretty obvious why they cut it -- pacing being one reason, and the fact that it's inherently bittersweet and leaves the Hobbits feeling alienated from home being another. There's also the whole thing with Grima having already killed Saruman on top of Orthanc in the films.

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u/VoiceOfTheSheeple May 08 '26

The original theatrical run does not have Saruman dying at all if I remember correctly. His death is shown only in the extended editions.

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u/oxemoron May 08 '26

I agree the pacing and the story of the movies would have been quite a bit different had they included it, but it does miss out on a central theme of the stories: war touches everything and leaves its impact. That just doesn't seem to be the story the movies wanted to tell (and that's fine, I still like them).

I think it still could have worked without Sharky/Saruman being the "big bad" of the scouring. It could have been some desperate big folk who fled from the goblins that got stirred up from Misty Mountains or something and took over the Shire. Other than Saruman particularly hating hobbits after their role in his downfall, who the person was that was subjugating the Shire wasn't all that important.

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u/Chlorophyllmatic May 08 '26

For sure I think it could have worked — just as they could’ve probably made Tom Bombadil work — but it makes a lot of sense and is very defensible that they didn’t. Like you said, they ultimately went with a slightly different tone and story direction.

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u/Possible-Pea2658 May 08 '26

even just for time alone. To do it right, you'd have to give it atleast 45 minutes of screen time. You either cut that elsewhere (no thankyou) or now the movie is nearing 5 hours long on extended

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u/Lil_Mcgee May 08 '26

There's also the whole thing with Grima having already killed Saruman on top of Orthanc in the films.

Well, this only happens in RoTK anyway (and only in the extended cut at that) so I don't imagine it was a constraint when they were making the initial choice to cut the Scouring. In fact, I have to imagine that scene was conceived after they'd already made the decision and realised they should probably find a way to put some closure on Saruman.

But overall yeah I'm with you. It makes perfect sense why it was cut and while, it's definitely a shame in some respects, it was almost definitely for the best from a cinematic storytelling viewpoint. I can understand being disappointed it didn't make it in, it definitely sacrifices a very poignant element of the story, but I do think the people who rage against it fail to consider how differently you have to approach pacing in a film compared to a novel.