"Peter Jackson's Close Call: Saving a Beloved Hobbit from an Untimely End"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by The Guardian
Peter Jackson, the director of "The Lord of the Rings" film series, resisted pressure from producers to kill off one of the hobbit characters, staying true to J.R.R. Tolkien's original narrative where all hobbits survive. Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry, revealed in a podcast that he would have been the likely candidate for the death scene if Jackson had conceded. Jackson's decision is contrasted with his later choices in "The Hobbit" trilogy, which included more divergences from the source material.