Who knew Middle-earth’s biggest plot twist had happened off-camera? Richard Armitage, the brooding dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield himself, spilled the beans on The Hobbit’s ever-evolving script. By the time filming wrapped, the script had been rewritten so many times, it was a wonder the cast didn’t get whiplash trying to keep up.
From plot twists to character arcs, nothing had been safe from last-minute changes.
Richard Armitage’s Hobbit journey: Rewrites, heavy armor, and on-set surprises
The Hobbit wasn’t just an adventure on screen; it was a full-blown rewrite marathon behind the scenes. Richard Armitage revealed that the script changes were relentless.
The rewrites weren’t random, though. As filming progressed, the characters’ voices evolved, and the writers – Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Peter Jackson – adapted the script to fit those shifts. Every scene felt more personal, making each change a creative leap rather than just a tweak.
During a 2012 Collider interview, Armitage admitted,
Yeah, the script has probably– I don’t think there’s a single page left in the script that hasn’t changed. But all of the changes have been as a result of the process of filming, and you realize how the characters are going to develop, and how the characters speak.
And that’s what I love about Philippa and Fran and Pete, the way they write is that they start to hear your voice, and they write for you, and they write for all of those characters. So the script has to change from where they started.
He continued,
And of course, all of the action sequences just develop, and you get a stage direction. And Pete will always do something that you don’t expect when you walk onto set, and he’ll say, “I’ve had to think about this moment”, and it’s always better than what’s on the page.
So as much as it’s frustrating to get your dialogue the night before, it’s always brilliant, it’s always better. And you sit up till four in the morning learning it, and you come and do it the next day, and it’s a gift.
Then came the physical toll. Armitage hauled around an extra 30 kilos of armor, roughly a quarter of his body weight. Even the most intense scenes didn’t always look as grueling as they felt, forcing him to push harder to sell Thorin’s intensity on screen. He said in the same interview,
I think I carry– At my heaviest, I’ve carried an extra thirty kilos on top of my own, so it’s about a quarter of my own body weight on top of what I already have. Yeah, it’s been tough, but the only downside of it is you’re hot and you’re tired, but because everything’s bigger, your movement is kind of reduced.
But every rewrite turned out to be, in his words, “a gift” – especially when Jackson would spring fresh ideas on set, elevating key moments beyond what was on the page.
Between the endless rewrites, heavy armor, and surprise set changes, The Hobbit wasn’t just a journey to reclaim Erebor; it was a masterclass in on-the-fly filmmaking magic.
Richard Armitage emerges as Cara Hunter’s dream detective for TV adaptation
Crime author Cara Hunter has her eyes set on Richard Armitage as her top pick for Detective Inspector Adam Fawley in a potential TV adaptation of her hit novels. Speaking at Oxford Westgate Library, Hunter shared that Armitage remains her first choice for the role.
Her Oxford-based Fawley series, which sold over a million copies worldwide, could finally hit screens after Castlefield secured the rights in 2020. Hunter’s partnership with Grantchester writer Daisy Coulam promises to bring fast-paced storytelling to life, mirroring the sharp, cinematic feel of her books.
Armitage, best known for The Hobbit trilogy and several Harlan Coben Netflix adaptations, seems a perfect fit. With Endeavour wrapping its final season, fans are ready for Oxford’s next big detective drama, and DI Fawley could fill that gap in style.
The Hobbit is available to watch on Max & Prime Video.
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