Ian McKellen has said he would be interested in returning to the role of Gandalf in the upcoming Lord Of The Rings spinoff – if he’s still alive.
The actor portrayed the wizard in Peter Jackson’s original trilogy of films from 2001 to 2003, and now he has opened up about the possibility of coming back in a new film set in the same universe.
Last month, it was confirmed that Warner Bros. is working on a number of projects set in Middle Earth, the first of which is a 2026 film tentatively titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
McKellen told the Sunday Times that he would consider it “if I’m alive”. The 85-year-old reflected on how he takes decisions about future roles at this stage in his life.
Ian McKellen. CREDIT: Joe Maher/WireImage
“When a script comes through, or the hint of an offer, you think, ‘This might be my last job. No. I’m not doing that,’” he said.
He did also say that so far there has been “no script, there is no offer, there is no plan”. But he did say that he’d heard rumblings that Gandalf would feature in the film, and slyly noted that he had not shaved “in months”, in reference to the character’s legendary grey beard.
Viggo Mortensen has also weighed in on the possibility of returning to the franchise in the film and reprising his role of Aragorn, the character her portrayed in the original trilogy of films directed by Peter Jackson.
Mortensen said he would be interested in doing it if he thought it was “right for the character”, adding, “I don’t know exactly what the story is, I haven’t heard. Maybe I’ll hear about it eventually.”
“I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”
The Hunt for Gollum will likely see Andy Serkis reprise his role as Gollum from the trilogy, with the actor also expected to direct the project.
Original director Peter Jackson is set to produce alongside creative partners Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh.
Upon the announcement of the project, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav revealed they were “now in the early stages of script development” for new Lord Of The Rings films, which will “explore storylines yet to be told”.
News of potential new films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s works first emerged last year after Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema struck a deal for “multiple” films.
The original trilogy grossed nearly $3billion globally. It was followed by The Hobbit trilogy, which was released between 2012 and 2014 and also proved a huge financial success.
Lord Of The Rings is also continuing on the small screen with Amazon Prime Video’s The Rings Of Power, which began in 2022 and will air its second season from August.
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