While Ian McKellen has still not officially signed the dotted line to reprise his role as Gandalf in Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’s upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, he did reveal that Middle-earth’s gray wizard may have some familiar furry-footed company when he embarks on his next journey.
During a Lord of the Rings panel at the For Love of Fantasy event held in London on Sunday, the 86-year-old actor — who famously earned a much-deserved Oscar nomination for his powerful portrayal of Gandalf in 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring — spilled the beans about a familiar hobbit who will be apart of the next adventure.
He’s of course talking about Frodo Baggins, who was played by Elijah Wood in Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings trilogy and again in two bookend cameo appearances in The Hobbit trilogy.
“I hear there’s going to be another movie set in Middle-earth, and it’s going to start filming in May. It’s going to be directed by Gollum and it’s all about Gollum,” McKellen told a cheering audience, per Entertainment Weekly.
He continued, “I’ll tell you two secrets about the casting: there’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s another character called Gandalf. Apart from that, my lips are sealed!”
To be clear, McKellen did not explicitly state that he is officially returning as Gandalf. And Wood, as of present, is still not officially confirmed to reprise his role as Frodo either. However, Wood was present at the event alongside other Lord of the Rings alum, including Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and John Rhys-Davies.
When McKellen stated that the anticipated film was going to be “directed by Gollum,” he’s of course referring to Andy Serkis, who played the gangly bug-eyed creature in the original trilogy and again in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The movie is being produced by the Oscar-winning trio behind the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, including Jackson and his writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Walsh and Boyens are penning the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.
Set for a December 2027 release, The Hunt for Gollum is a prequel film that aims to fill the gaps between Bilbo Baggins’s encounter with Gollum during the events in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, which begs the question: How exactly does Frodo fit into the story?
Fans are already heavily speculating about the character's involvement, with many already assuming that this could be just another extended flashback cameo in the same vein of his appearance in An Unexpected Journey. The film could also perhaps revisit new scenes featuring Frodo interacting with Gandalf after the wizard hastily gives him the ring and tells him to “keep it secret, keep it safe” on the night of Bilbo’s 111th birthday. This is the moment Gandalf dashes off to Gondor to research the last-known whereabouts of the One Ring and to hunt for Gollum with the aid of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), another missing piece the prequel film will heavily explore.
However it all fits, fans are thrilled to embark on another Lord of the Rings adventure with Gandalf — and to go there and back again with McKellen.
