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It's hardly a hot take when I say the correct way to enjoy J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth on screen is via The Lord of the Rings extended editions. Adding delightful character moments and downright vital plot points (the death of Saruman, anyone?), the 3-hour-plus cuts of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King are a must-see for any true fan of the franchise. In fact, die-hards of the high fantasy epic (as you know work here, reader) have even spoken about the possibility of even more extended editions - with more unused footage, more cut scenes, and more Hobbit hijinks.

Unfortunately for us, though, trilogy director Peter Jackson says those cuts don't exist.

Let's back up for a moment. The idea of a Lord of the Rings Extended Extended Edition is not new to the internet. Dubbed by some circles the 'Mithril Cut,' this hopeful idea comes from disparate records of existing footage fans know exist for the films, but that never made either the theatrical or extended cuts. And according to Jackson, they never will.

Speaking to Empire Magazine for The Fellowship of the Ring's 25th anniversary, Jackson posited a question to himself. "Are there great scenes that we never used?" he said. "The answer is no."

Surely it can't be all no; can it Peter?

"There are bits and pieces," continued Jackson (whew), "I guess. But if you did an extended-extended cut, or whatever it will get called, it would be disappointing. It would be the extended cut with a few extra seconds of something here and there; it wouldn’t be worthwhile doing."

I mean, "a few extra seconds" of the greatest cinematic trilogy ever made sure sounds worth it to me, but perhaps I'm biased. What is heartening to hear, though, is that Jackson does think there could be a use for all that extra footage somewhere down the line. According to the director, he's long wanted to helm a 'making of' documentary about the films.

"The footage contains alternative takes, it contains bloopers," Jackson concludes, "It contains a bit more of a sense of the mechanics of making the films, [...] But to this day, I haven’t persuaded [the studio], because obviously it’s a big undertaking."

To be fair, that's what they said about the Lord of the Rings movies in the first place.

The Lord of the Rings, the extended editions, are streaming on HBO Max now. 

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.