“There was talk”: how Sean Bean almost missed out on his favourite onscreen death
Sean Bean is a truly unique actor who has played a multitude of amazing roles for well over 30 years, but he has become best known for his iconic screen deaths, and yet, one of his most famous almost didn’t happen.
Whether it’s a coincidence of his understated talent for playing men that meet their doom, Bean has been in many films and shows in which he is killed onscreen, including Game of Thrones, Black Death, The Field, Patriot Games, and Goldeneye, among others, but none have entered the pop culture lexicon quite like the unforgettable last breath of Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
It’s one of the most famous scenes in the trilogy, where a humble Boromir redeems himself after trying to steal the One Ring from Frodo Baggins, and in order to protect Merry and Pippin, he draws the attention of the Uruk-hai warriors and dies a hero.
It stands as an incredibly emotional moment of the trilogy, more so because Boromir, being human, is the most susceptible to the power of the One Ring and its corrupting influence, so while he is initially unable to avoid its seduction, it is after realising how dangerous he has become that he finds a way to save his friends, and shares one last moment with Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn.
It’s only after Bormir makes a pledge to the man he considers to be the “one true king” that Aragorn accepts his destiny to become the ruler of men.
Although Bean and Mortensen are now inextricable from their roles, they could have been switched out, with Bean revealing that “there was talk” about him playing Aragorn based on his friendship with The Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne, but that “Viggo came along, and he made a magnificent Aragorn”.
It’s easy to imagine why the former may have been a good choice, as his ability to play strong, yet soft-spoken heroes has been one of his greatest attributes as an actor, but Mortensen nailed the role of Aragorn in a way that felt like the perfect embodiment of the original character as he was written by JRR Tolkien, and as a result, Bean got to play another great character, and one who is perhaps more complex.
Boromir is a fascinating figure in LOTR because he is resolute in his desire to protect all living creatures from the impending wrath of Sauron, even if his strategy changes, where he initially felt that retaining the One Ring would give their armies an advantage in the battle against Sauron, it’s only after it calls to him that he realises its destructive power, making for a heartbreaking moment of completely vulnerablity, as he still ends up doing the right thing.
While it may have initially been a bit disappointing for Bean to play a character that is killed within the first instalment of the trilogy, he thankfully had more to do when Boromir appeared in the flashback scenes of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which explores the relationship between the character and his brother Faramir, played by David Wenham, who goes on to be another significant hero in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
