If Saruman's story feels incomplete in Peter Jackson's birthplace of the Uruk-hai. While Christopher Lee was a notorious stickler for adhering to the source material, often said to brandish a copy of Tolkien's books on-set, Saruman's ending is one of the biggest changes made by Peter Jackson. What's more, the changes Jackson made to Saruman's ending weren't seen in the theatrical cut, making him seemingly absent from The Return of the King. I
In the original story, Saruman escapes the Tower of Orthanc by negotiating with the Ents, and the weakened wizard heads to the Shire, taking control of the area in Frodo's absence. When the four leading Hobbits return home after destroying the Ring, they find the Shire entirely under Saruman's dominion and are forced to expel him in the LotR deleted scene wasn't in the theatrical release. Condensing the villain's arc from the books, Saruman's crimes are reeled off and Gandalf tries to turn his former colleague into an informant, albeit to no avail. The corrupted wizard refuses to come down from the top of his tower, so Theoden makes a last-ditch appeal to Wormtongue, which unexpectedly results in the servant turning on his master. Stabbed from behind, Saruman falls from Orthanc and lands on a spike below in a gruesome fashion.
Why Saruman's Death Wasn't In The LOTR Theatrical Cut
Peter Jackson opted to remove this scene from the theatrical cut of Return of the King very late in production, replacing it with a short line of dialogue in which the threat of Saruman is revealed to have subsided. Jackson's reasons for cutting Saruman's demise were twofold; firstly, to pare down a film that was already testing the limits of how long a person can comfortably sit on a theater seat, and secondly because of the narrative flow. Jackson claimed in a 2003 interview that the scene was originally intended for the end of The Two Towers, but removed in order to wrap up the second film faster. While the director originally thought to place the material at the start of Return of the King, this created an opening that was more about mopping up past plot threads than starting new ones and so the sequence was cut, with Jackson figuring most viewers would simply assume Saruman was defeated by the Ents.
In reality, this editing decision was received far worse than could've been anticipated. Christopher Lee reacted particularly badly to being cut from the final film, reportedly not attending the premiere as a result. This drove a wedge between the actor and director that was eventually healed in advance of Lee's return in The Hobbit. Audiences were left equally unimpressed, wondering what fate befell Saruman after his defeatThe Two Towers and claiming that a villain of such stature deserved a more fitting end than a mere throwaway line. A petition was even set up requesting the wizard's axed death scene be restored. Under pressure from viewers and a legendary actor who sings heavy metal in his spare time, Jackson conceded a mistake had been made and restored the scene in the extended version of Return of the King, finally making Saruman's death a genuine part of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy's canon.
Saruman's Death Is One Of Many Essential Scenes In The Extended Edition
There have been many versions of The Lord of the Rings. Of all the different cuts available, the and Saruman's death is arguably the best example available to prove their point.
