There comes a point in time when an actor doesn’t really care if they’re told to keep secrets or not. They just say it anyway. That’s apparently where we find Ian McKellen nowadays. He just can’t seem to keep quiet about the new ‘Lord of the Rings’ films.
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While speaking to the British talk show, “This Morning,” Ian McKellen was asked, once again, if he would be returning to the upcoming ‘Lord of the Rings’ film, ‘The Hunt for Gollum.’ You may remember that very recently, he was asked that same thing, and McKellen confirmed that he would like to return. This time, he said very much the same thing, but added something a little extra.
“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],” added the actor. “But I haven’t read the script. So, I don’t know if it is.”
Two films? Well, that’s news to us, huh? Honestly, we shouldn’t be all that surprised that a ‘Lord of the Rings’ film is getting split into multiple chapters. Look what they did with the ‘Hobbit’ films, turning a rather small novel into a new massive trilogy of films.
Obviously, as McKellen said, this is just what he’s heard and there is perhaps the chance that he either misheard or things are still in their infancy and could change. But as of now, it really does seem as if the new ‘Lord of the Rings’ project, from director Andy Serkis, is getting split up into two features.
You can see McKellen talk about this in the interview below: