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Ian McKellen says he’s been approached about playing Gandalf once again in Andy Serkis’ upcoming Lord of the Rings film, The Hunt for Gollum.
Speaking to The Big Issue, the actor who played the beloved wizard in both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, gave the update. "Enthusiasm for The Lord of the Rings shows no sign of abating," he said when asked about it. "I can’t tell you any more than that. 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."
Earlier this year it was confirmed that Serkis would be starring and directing two more Lord of the Rings films focussed around Gollum. Currently, the first has a working release date of 2026, but McKellen adds that they haven’t got a script for it just yet.
"When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So, they better be quick," he added. McKellen is recently recovering from a fall on stage during a performance in London’s West End, but his next movie The Critic is out this month.
The new live-action Lord of the Rings films will see Peter Jackson and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens return as producers too. However, story details are pretty much non-existent at this point, and no other characters have been announced yet.
"It is so early; it would be unfair to commit to anything at this point. But I will say that it will be a deep dive where we investigate Gollum’s character," Serkis told a panel at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 (via Popverse) earlier this year. "There may be characters that we recognize that might be coming back. I’m not going to say who."
The franchise is doing well at the moment though, with an animated movie called The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim due out later this year. The film recently released its trailer, which referenced Jackson’s live-action movies.
Elsewhere, prequel series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is airing its second season on Prime Video. For more information, check out our guides on how to watch the Lord of the Rings movies in order and our breakdown of the Lord of the Rings timeline.
