'! Ian McKellen Open to Returning as Gandal...

Ian McKellen is ready to return to Middle-earth — but hopes it's sooner rather than later

Published Time: 03.09.2024 - 16:31:05 Modified Time: 03.09.2024 - 16:31:05

Ian McKellen is ready to return to Middle-earth — but hopes it's sooner rather than later.

In a new interview with Big Issue, the 85-year-old actor appeared to be hinting that he wouldn't be still acting for an open-ended amount of time, which could affect whether he is able to reprise his role as the wizard Gandalf in the upcoming new Lord of the Rings movies.

“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 said in the interview, published Monday, Sept. 2. “When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”

Following his hit trilogy of films adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’sThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy, in which McKellen played the wise wizard Gandalf, filmmakerPeter Jacksonis teaming up withAndy SerkisforThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, scheduled for a 2026 release.

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Warner Bros. announced on May 9 that Serkis, 60, will direct as well as reprise his role as Ring of Power-obsessed Gollum, a.k.a. Sméagol, in the upcoming installment, with Jackson, 62, signing on as producer. Joining them on the producing team are filmmakers from the Oscar-winning original trilogy including screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Meanwhile, McKellen broke out as Gandalf in 2001’sThe Fellowship of the Ring, earning an Academy Award nomination. After appearing in The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), he reprised the role in Jackson’s follow-up trilogy adapting Tolkien's -

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The Hobbit.

In a May interview withDeadline, Jackson teased that “it’s too soon to know who will cross his path,” in reference to the plot and characters in Gollum’s upcoming movie.

“We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films," he said. "Suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”

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McKellen was hospitalized for three days earlier this summer after he took a tumble during a performance at London's Noël Coward theater. He was in a fight scene during a production ofPlayer Kings,a production ofHenry IV, when he lost his footing and reportedly fell off the front of the stage.

Last month, the X-Man star toldSaga Magazinethat he was afraid to leave the house after his June 17 accident, but admitted his injuries could’ve been a lot worse, as “the fat suit I wore for his character Sir John Falstaff saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky.”

“I’ve relived that fall countless times. It was horrible," he said. “I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting. The end didn’t mean my death, but it felt like the end of my participation in the play.”

Despite calling it a “lucky escape,” McKellen told the outlet that he has to keep telling himself that he’s not too old to act.

"It was just a bloody accident,” he said. “I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy, but I’ve not been able to return to the stage, and they’ve continued without me."