When you’re Ian McKellen and have been doing this…well, for forever, nobody’s going complain when you say too much. McKellen is getting asked at every turn if he’s coming back as Gandalf for Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and while he’s previously confirmed his interest, this time the actor had a little more to say.
Appearing on the British morning show This Morning, McKellen reiterated his desire to come back as Gandalf. However, he also added a detail about the film that nobody knew…it won’t just be a single movie.
“There’ll be a script arriving sometime in the new year, and I’ll judge whether I want to go back [laughs],” said McKellen. “I would. I would love to go back to New Zealand, number one. And also, I don’t like the idea of anyone else playing Gandalf.”
“I’m told it’s two films. I probably shouldn’t be saying that [laughs],” McKellen added. “But I haven’t read the script. So, I don’t know if it is.”
Okay, so it doesn’t sound as if McKellen is 100% sure on this point, but would anyone be shocked? Peter Jackson, who is aboard as a producer, managed to slice up Tolkien’s brief The Hobbit novel into three gigantic movies. You could argue the original trilogy didn’t need to be as long as they were, either.
We’ll see what happens. No matter what, barring something completely out of left field, expect to see McKellen back walking the fields of Middle-Earth again. Possibly Orlando Bloom, too.
