The Lord Of The Rings Almost Had Nudity, But Only As A Gag

Actor Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in The Lord of the Rings, has revealed that the series nearly had a nude scene involving Pippin, Merry, and Treebeard. Boyd said in an appearance on Stephen Colbert's late night show that writer Philippa Boyens wrote a gag sequence for Merry and Pippin where they climb on Treebeard the Ent and, upon falling out of his branches, land on the ground naked.

The scene was meant to demonstrate the pair's penchant for hijinks, but it was ultimately cut for reasons that Boyd didn't explain.

"There was almost nudity in the movies. Philippa Boyens...she did a gag. She wrote a scene, because we'd been doing some kind of gags and winding people, having a bit of fun. And she wrote a scene," Boyd said (via Collider). "She said, 'Oh, it's a new scene we're filming next week, with the Ents, with Treebeard, so when Merry and Pippin are up Treebeard, he gets a fright and shakes his branches, which makes you guys fall--and this has all been printed on this script--it 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.'"

Boyd said he was being serious and that this scene was actually planned for the movie at a certain point. Dominic Monaghan, who plays Merry, joked in the interview that he was enthusiastic about the idea because he's happy and comfortable showing off his body.

"I was kind of into it because I have a really fantastic ass and I thought now is the time to get it out," he said with a laugh.

Nudity in The Lord of the Rings came up in the interview after Colbert asked for the actors to respond to the online petitions for Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show to not feature nudity in the way that Game of Thrones did over the course of the series. Officially, we don't know if Amazon's show will have nudity--barely any details on the show are available.

For his part, Middle-earth super-fan Colbert mentioned that The Hobbit book has nudity and that naked scenes could have a place in Amazon's show.

"I don't want to hear it from any of the prudes who don't think there should be any nudity in The Lord of the Rings," he said.

Amazon's series is currently filming in New Zealand. Actor Benjamin Walker recently discussed the show's gigantic budget and explained why he believes all the secrecy around the project is a good thing.