Ian McKellan Wants To Return As Gandalf In New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies

Sir Ian McKellen won’t be retiring anytime soon, or throwing away his pointy hat. The 85-year-old actor who may be best known these days as Gandalf the Grey from the Lord of the Rings trilogy has recently been approached to return as one of our favorite wizards in a new movie currently titled The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, planned for theater release in 2026.

Andy Serkis has signed on, presumably to reprise his role as Gollum as well as to direct, and Peter Jackson is already on board as producer; however, there’s no script, as J.R.R. Tolkien is long dead and the book series has already been adapted to film — even its prequel, The Hobbit, which was turned into a trilogy as well. This new film will need an original, all-new story to tell. Fran Walsh (Peter Jackson’s wife) and Philippa Boyens, who was a writer on all of the LOTR and Hobbit films, will write the screenplay.

“Enthusiasm for The Lord of the Rings shows no sign of abating,” Ian McKellen said recently of coming back as Gandalf. “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.”

Courtesy of Everett

“When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So, they better be quick,” he added.

The actor may have been referencing a recent health scare; in June, he was taken to a hospital after falling off the stage during a fight scene in Robert Icke’s Player Kings, a stage adaptation of Henry IV in which McKellan played Falstaff, at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. Three months after the accident he said, “Everything is physically mended,” and that he is “mobile, pain free and ready to go.” He’s also insisted that he will continue to act as long as “the knees hold up and the memory remains intact.”

With Christopher Lee‘s death in 2015, we know he won’t return as Saruman; Ian Holm, who played Bilbo Baggins, also passed in 2020. It will also need a new executive producer, with Harvey Weinstein currently… busy (being incarcerated). However, much of the cast is still around, so perhaps we will see more of Frodo and his gang, too.

Meanwhile, you can catch him in his latest movie The Critic coming to theaters Sept. 13.