Ian McKellen Says He’s Open to Returning as ‘LOTR’s Gandalf

“They better be quick!” the venerable actor laughs of the potential for new ‘Rings’ movies featuring McKellen as the powerful wizard character.

Ian McKellen as Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'. Photo: New Line Cinema.

Preview:

Ian McKellen reveals the ‘LOTR’ movies team hope he’ll return as Gandalf.
He has yet to see a script.
Andy Serkis is gearing up to make a Gollum movie.

Even as Prime Video’s Tolkien-derived ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ launches its second season, the true big-hitter in the ‘Rings’ world continues to drive forward as plans for more movies were recently revealed.

With ‘LOTR’ and ‘The Hobbit’ movie trilogy filmmaker Peter Jackson producing the new output (more on that below), things are clearly in the works.

And now Sir Ian McKellen, the venerable British actor who so memorably played wizard Gandalf the Grey (and Gandalf the White) in Jackson’s movies, has spoken to magazine The Big Issue about his potential return to the franchise.

What has Ian McKellen said about possibly returning as Gandalf?

Ian McKellen as Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'. Photo: New Line Cinema.

Here’s what McKellen had to say:

“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. When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”

And he’s only partly joking, since the 82-year-old is recuperating from a nasty fall while performing on stage in England, and the injuries he sustained have him in a reflective mood.

This was what he said about his status:

“I’m left feeling weak physically, which I’m doing exercises for. 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. I’m just trying to convince myself it was an accident. I’m usually working or preparing to work, I’ve been doing a little bit of that, wondering what might be the best plan. I’m going to take the rest of the year off. Not because I need to, just because I want to.”

What is the ‘Rings’ team working on?

Andy Serkis at a London Special Screening of 'The Batman.' Copyright: © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

While it appears that Peter Jackson is not currently planning to direct either film, he will be deeply involved in the movies’ development.

Working alongside him, as they have since the beginning, are collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who will write the scripts for the films.

And another key player in the ‘LOTR’ franchise, Andy Serkis –– who regularly squeezed into performance capture suits to play slinky Ring-coveter Gollum, is also back, and he’s aboard to direct the first confirmed movie, which is perhaps fittingly (working) titled ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’.

Serkis will also be getting back into his performance capture rig to star as the titular creature.

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

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A new film based on the novels. Read the Plot

What’s the story of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’?

Andy Serkis as Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'. Photo: New Line Cinema.

Warner Bros. wouldn’t be drawn on specifics just yet, but let’s be honest… It kind of speaks for itself. And there is at least one section of Tolkien’s work that focuses on just such a search (Aragorn is the unlucky person tasked with tracking down the riddle-spinner).

What form exactly the new story takes remains to be seen, but it has already been adapted into a fan film and a card game.

As for the other movie? That’s even more of a mystery for now, but the studio has said it’ll dig into unexplored stories.

When will the new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies be in theaters?

The plan for at least one of the new movies is for it to be in theaters by 2026.

But before any of the in-development projects come to fruition, we’ll see animated outing ‘The War of the Rohirrim’ landing in theaters on December 13th.