Ian McKellen has been approached for new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie
Actors who play a character multiple times over a number of years develop a certain sense of ownership, which helps explain why Ian McKellen is willing to put his last miserable experience in the rear-view mirror to consider playing Gandalf in the next Lord of the Rings movie.
The veteran was the only member of the original trilogy’s supporting cast to earn an Academy Award nomination when he was shortlisted for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in The Fellowship of the Ring, with his natural gravitas and booming voice turning the wizened wizard into a cultural icon.
Like everyone else who was part of the sprawling ensemble, McKellen points to Peter Jackson’s first three films as being among the greatest experiences of his career, but the same couldn’t be said a decade later when he returned to Middle-Earth for The Hobbit.
In fact, the star admitted he was reduced to tears during production when he discovered that instead of the practical sets and visual techniques used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he was going to spend a great deal of time by himself, acting against nothing while surrounded entirely by a green screen.
Despite his despair at the technological evolutions that have made him feel completely isolated and alone, he’s not ready to give up on Gandalf just yet. For reasons that are undoubtedly motivated entirely by money, franchise veteran Andy Serkis was recently announced to be starring in and directing The Hunt for Gollum, with Warner Bros keen to mine JRR Tolkien’s fantasy world for all it’s worth.
There’s no word on plot specifics yet other than Gollum obviously being hunted, but McKellen confirmed to the BBC that he’s spoken to some of the key players. From the sound of things, his despairing time spent on The Hobbit hasn’t dampened his love of Gandalf one bit.
“I’m not letting anyone else put on the pointy hat and beard if I can help it,” he said. It doesn’t come much more definitive than that, with McKellen acknowledging that he’s been told by those in the know that Gandalf has a part to play in what’s coming next, and he wants in.
“I’ve just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved, and they hope that I’ll be playing him,” he explained. “When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So, they better be quick.”
The Hunt for Gollum doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s scheduled to hit cinemas in 2026. For talking’s sake, all six of the previous entries were released in either November or December, so if that trend continues, McKellen will be 87 by the time the first one comes out, so they’d better get cracking on those scripts.
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