Viggo Mortensen doesn't expect to reprise his Aragorn character in the next installments of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings series, the actor revealed to Movies.com.

The news may not surprise those familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit novel, as Aragorn did not appear in it.

However, Mortensen told the movies blog that producer Peter Jackson had approached him about the possibility of appearing in An Unexpected Journey, the first installment of the two-part prequel series.

Mortensen said he would have been willing to participate. But as it stands now, I'm not in it unless there is some last-minute plan they have. But I thought I would have heard of it by now ... Aragorn is half elf and also lives a couple hundred years or more and he could be in a bridge, but I have to assume it isn't going to happen.

While Mortensen won't be reprising his role, a fleet of other familiar faces are involved, including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom. The cast could be making an appearance in theaters sooner than expected. A trailer is expected around Christmas, Gollum actor Andy Serkis told IGN. It's just around the corner, he said.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is due in theaters December 14, 2012. Its sequel, There and Back Again, has a release date of December 13, 2013. Jackson has been posting production updates at TheHobbitBlog.com.