Ian McKellen wants to return as Gandalf in new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies
Sir Ian McKellan wants the new Lord of the Rings movies to hurry up and work some magic for his potential return as Gandalf.
The 85-year-old English actor has revealed that he’d like to return to the film series to reprise the role of the beloved wizard, now that LOTR film director Peter Jackson will return to produce two new films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels in the future.
“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,” McKellen told Big Issue in a new interview, one of his first on-record conversations since the esteemed actor fell off stage in June during a Player Kings performance at the Noël Coward Theatre in London.
McKellen admitted that he didn’t know much about the new Warner Bros. movie, but that the script is “not written yet,” according to what he’s heard. “So they better be quick!” McKellen joked.
The actor previously told The Times of London that he’d return as Gandalf on one condition: “If I’m alive.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.
Speaking about his fall during Player Kings, McKellen said that he was “left feeling weak physically,” but that he’s doing exercises amid his recuperation. “And, of course, it’s emotional. We all trip all our lives, it’s just when you get to my age you can’t always get up again,” he added, later confirming that he’s “going to take the rest of the year off” as a personal choice instead of a health necessity.
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McKellen has appeared in six LOTR franchise films to date, including Jackson’s original Oscar-winning trilogy released between 2001 and 2003, and Jackson’s follow-up Hobbit trilogy that debuted between 2012 and 2014.
In other Rings news, series actor Dominic Monaghan shared to Instagram on Sunday a photo of himself seated at a table with fellow actors Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd, marking a cast reunion for the stars who played hobbits in the first three LOTR films.
On the small screen, Amazon also premiered season 2 of its Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television series on Thursday.
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