Ian McKellen would be interested in playing Gandalf in The Hunt for Gollum, with one morbid caveat

Ian McKellen is interested in returning to play Gandalf in the recently announced The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, but there’s a big catch.

McKellen, who previously appeared as a vigilante wizard of Middle-earth in the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as The Hobbit trilogy, spoke about a potential return during an interview with times. He says he’s heard that Gandalf might return but explains that “there’s no script, there’s no exposition, there’s no plan.” His decision to return as a character comes down to one thing: whether or not he’s still around.

When asked if he would be interested in playing Gandalf again, he pointedly said: “If I live.”

McKellen, 85, last played the character in 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, meaning it’s been nearly a decade since he last donned the wizard’s hat and robe. Meanwhile, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum isn’t due to arrive until 2026 at the earliest, with early script work now underway.

McKellen isn’t the only actor to comment on the possibility of returning to the series. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also recently said he was interested in reprising the role in The Hunt for Gollum, but acknowledged that would have to justify him being two decades older than he was in The Hunt for Gollum. Previous films.

Details on The Hunt for Gollum are light, but we know a little about how the film will explore Andy Serkis’ iconic character. Peter Jackson recently spoke about how the plan will be implemented The film will include some content he “didn’t have time to cover.” With the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey that we didn’t have time to cover in the previous films,” he said. “It’s too early to tell who will get in his way, but suffice it to say we’ll be taking our lead from original author JRRTolkien.”[المؤلفالأصليجيآرآرتولكين”[originalauthorJRRTolkien”