Viggo Mortensen reused Aragorn’s sword from THE LORD OF THE RINGS in his new film THE DEAD DO NO HARM

Viggo Mortensen is the protagonist of the film The dead don’t hurta western that hits theaters this weekend, and although it’s set on the American frontier in the midst of the Civil War, The Lord of the Rings fans have a fun little Easter egg to look forward to as they watch.

In a recent interview with GQ Magazine, Mortensen explained how Aragorn’s sword Andúril ended up in his most recent film.

The actor said: “We had everything for this sequence with a knight. We had found this amazing, lively horse, the right kind of saddle, we made a kind of medieval blanket and we had the costume for the rider.

“Everything was fine, and then I said, well, we should have a sword. And I looked and there were some good ones and I thought, well, it might be nice to use this one that I had because it’s really good.

“But I knew I should have asked permission because I’m sure someone would notice, even if you only see it for a few seconds, it’s not really essential to the scene let alone the film, it’s just something fleeting that either you see or you don’t see.

“So I asked Peter Jackson if he was okay with it, and he said, ‘Well, is that very important in the story?’ I said no, it’s actually not. You almost don’t notice, but someone probably will. He said that was fine with him, but that I should ask the film company.

“So I contacted them and they were fine with it. They realized it wasn’t essential, it wouldn’t draw much attention to itself. And they were very kind and gave us permission. That’s why we did it, simply because it felt right. It was kind of a last minute accident.

It’s nice that the sword got another shot in another role with Mortensen at the helm. Keep your eyes open when you see The dead don’t hurtin theaters this weekend.