The Real Reason This Nude Scene Was Cut From Lord Of The Rings

For years, "The Lord of the Rings" series by J.R.R. Tolkien was believed to be impossible to put to live-action film. Then, Peter Jackson and his talented crew created one of the best film series ever. The movies that ran from 2001 to 2003 were epic in scale and stayed faithful to the source material, delighting fans of the franchise and newcomers simultaneously. Amazon hopes to catch lightning in a bottle twice with a television series of its own, and it looks like the studio wants to take the franchise in a decidedly different direction. 

If fans believe reports coming out from the series, it sounds like Amazon wants to take some cues from "Game of Thrones" (via The One Ring). The rumor started when news came out of an intimacy coordinator joining an Amazon production in New Zealand, and with the "Lord of the Rings" show becoming the most prominent production in the country at the moment, it makes sense she'd be affiliated with that. 

The rumors have started wildfires in the "Lord of the Rings" fanbase, who believe that nudity and other adult content have no place within the franchise. Such fans may feel surprised to learn that a smidgen of nudity could've made its way into Jackson's original trilogy courtesy of Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd).

Monaghan and Boyd recently sat down with self-professed "Lord of the Rings" nerd Stephen Colbert to promote their new podcast, "The Friendship Onion," where they discuss all things "LotR." In the middle of the conversation, Colbert brings up the rumors of how the Amazon show may "adult up" some of the aspects of Tolkien's world. At this point, Boyd goes into a story of how the two of them could've been nude in the movies. 

As he puts it, "[Screenwriter] Philippa Boyens ... she wrote a scene, because we'd been doing some kind of gags and winding people up ... [and] she said, 'Oh, it's a new scene we're filming next week, with the Ents ... When Merry and Pippin are up Treebeard, he gets afraid and shakes his branches, which makes you guys fall, and as you hit all the branches on the way down, by the time you hit the ground, you're naked. And Merry turns to Pippin and says, 'It's cold, isn't it?' And Pippin says, 'Hold me, Merry.'" By the sound of it, it sounds like the audience wouldn't have seen anything R-rated, with the bit just supposed to be a funny gag featuring implied nudity.

However, Colbert points out how nudity is present in Tolkien's original novels, but again, it doesn't come across in a sexualized manner. Most adult content along the lines of "Game of Thrones" wouldn't come up in the novels, seeing how Tolkien was an adamant Catholic. 

Anything sexual that ends up materializing on the Amazon series would be created solely for the show, and as of this point, any nudity remains a rumor. It may still be a while until the show comes to fruition, so for the time being, you can get your Middle Earth fix by listening to "The Friendship Onion" anywhere podcasts are heard.