Liam Neeson is one of those actors who were born to play every fantasy movie ever made.
For the recent reboot of the Harry Potter series on HBO, fans have been pleading for Liam Neeson to play Hagrid. He has the perfect voice for the character. Similarly, for the reboot of Narnia, fans of the franchise are interested in seeing Liam reprise his role as Aslan the Lion.
Among several fantasy or fantasy adjacent characters Liam has played, he has left his mark on each of them. However, no matter how perfect Liam may be, he is still a human being and has made wrong decisions when it comes to picking movies. Actors are known to reject movies on a whim, because of any superstition, or just because.
Like all those actors, Liam has also rejected movies that have gone on to become superhits, too. However, there is one series that Liam Neeson refused to act in, which is not only the biggest fantasy series ever but one of the biggest movie franchises. It was The Lord of The Rings.
On this day in 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was realised. Adapting #Tolkien‘s Return of the King (and part of The Two Towers) it tells the epic conclusion of the story, with the destruction of the Ring and defeat of Sauron. It won 11 Oscars. #LOTR #LOTR20 pic.twitter.com/tzF3A04elo
— Tolkien Society (@TolkienSociety) December 17, 2021
Liam Neeson was the original choice to play Boromir by the director Peter Jackson. He found Liam’s voice and personality perfect for playing the character. However, Liam turned the offer down because he was tired of his character dying at the beginning of the franchise.
Liam Neeson was just done portraying Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars, and he wasn’t ready to die again.
The role later went to Sean Bean, and he became one of his most recognized characters. His dialogue, “One does not simply walk into Mordor,” is one of the most popular memes, which Beans assumes will be his legacy.
Happy birthday to our Boromir, Sean Bean 🙌🏼🥳🎉 pic.twitter.com/ZpQjsMlZ3c
— The Mellon Heads – LOTR Podcast (@mellon_heads) April 17, 2022
There were also rumors that Bruce Willis was willing to play Boromir; however, there were never any official announcements from Jackson or Willis regarding roles or auditions.
Other than Star Wars, Liam Neeson’s character died in many of his films, including Batman Begins, Krull, Gangs of New York, etc. Gangs of New York went on to get nominations for an Academy Award.
Liam may have missed his chance with The Lord Of Rings franchise, but there is one franchise that went on to become a cult classic with very memorable dialogue and where Liam didn’t die an early death. Rather, he cheated death like an old buddy on a playground. That movie franchise is “Taken”.
Pierre Morel’s #Taken starring Liam Neeson was released 16 years ago today. pic.twitter.com/K6KeRERhLd
— Film Crave (@_filmcrave) January 30, 2025
Taken went on to become one of the biggest commercial hits of the year, and its dialogue, “I Will Find You,” is one of the more memorable memes.
In Taken, Lain Neeson went on to take the Russian human traffickers and save his daughter from the jaws of the vile creatures.
And as Liam wanted, he didn’t die in the first movie.
