Gandalf actor Ian McKellen will be donning his wizard's hat once more very soon in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and the legendary actor has joked about his comeback.
Speaking at a London Q&A for his new film The Christophers, attended by GamesRadar+, McKellen briefly spoke about his highly anticipated return in the context of a longer answer about the types of roles he is looking for at this stage in his career.
Speaking about a play he has lined up for "when I come back from Middle-earth," he explained: "I'm going back to do more Gandalf. Who would have thought there was more? The person who thought there was more was Andy Serkis, and he's going to be directing Gollum's early life."
As for the rest of his answer on whether there's a type of role he's prioritizing, McKellen started by reflecting: "No. It's an interesting question. It's always nice to play the baddie, you know. The devil has the best shoes. Only occasionally, you play a good man like Gandalf, but they don't come along very often. But am I looking for something in particular? No, I think I'm always looking for a script that will resonate beyond itself. It's not just a simple story, not just an Agatha Christie… something more complicated that will make an audience, as I like to when I'm in the cinema or in the theater for a play, lean forward, gasp, laugh, a day to think about, talk about. I think, when I do, at this point, [what] I'm looking is for something that nobody else has ever done."
He went on to talk about his recent appearance in a mixed-reality Simon Stevens play (An Ark) and a "lip-syncing" project about the painter L.S. Lowry (in BBC documentary LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes), before talking about his Middle-earth return and his next play (which will be "trying to analyze what connection I've got with King Lear").
McKellen isn't the only Middle-earth actor returning for The Hunt for Gollum. Elijah Wood is also back as Frodo Baggins, while Lee Pace returns as Thranduil. Serkis both directs and reprises his role as Gollum. The rest of the cast includes Kate Winslet as Marigol, Leo Woodall as Halvard, and Jamie Dornan as Strider, AKA Aragorn, the role famously played by Viggo Mortensen.
"I really, really don't want to go into it right now because I do want to save that for further down the line," Serkis said recently of recasting Aragorn. "We're at a crunch stage now, we're just about to start shooting. We're not far off shooting. So, I'm going to save all discussion about casting, other than that, we are thrilled that Jamie's doing it. We're absolutely thrilled. And, by the way, so is Viggo."
The Hunt for Gollum arrives on December 17, 2027. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies from this year and beyond.
