The extended edition of The Lord of the Rings is already an absolute behemoth, but considering the brilliance of the fantasy trilogy and its still very eager and proud fans, there are those out there who wish it could be even longer. To this end, as the extended trilogy caps out at over 11 hours, some have wondered if there's even more film that could potentially be added, and if there's a so-called "extended-extended" edition of the trilogy.
Long story short, there isn't. With increasing rumours that a "Mithril Cut" exists, director Peter Jackson has sat down with Empire to mark the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring and to shut down these rumours and hopes.
"Are there great scenes that we never used? The answer is no. There are bits and pieces, 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."
That's not to say there isn't unused footage, as co-writer Phillippa Boyens did confirm there are some brief scenes like a moment between a young Aragorn and Arwen in Lothlórien. However, the catch is that these scenes are very minor, described as "not a lot. There really isn't."
Of course, the rumours were too good to be true, but that's ultimately fine as The Lord of the Rings already exists as arguably the finest cinematic trilogy of all-time.