85-year-old Ian McKellen sounds willing to play Gandalf again, but "they better be quick"

The Lord of the Rings is everywhere these days, from the Prime Video show The Rings of Power to a new animated movie called The War of the Rohirrim coming out later this year. For many, the Peter Jackson movies from the early 2000s are the first things they think of when they hear "Lord of the Rings," and there's a revival of sorts for them in the works as well. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in that trilogy, will direct and star in a new movie called The Hunt for Gollum, about the wizard Gandalf and the ranger Aragorn...well, just look at the title if you want to know what they're doing.

The plot kind of happens offscreen during the first Lord of the Rings book, The Fellowship of the Ring. Since Serkis seems set to reprise his role as Gollum, fans can't help but wonder: will Viggo Mortensen be back as Aragorn, or Ian McKellen back as Gandalf?

Both actors have weighed in. “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,” McKellen told Big Issue. “When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”

Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen are both willing to return, but will they?

At 85 years old, it's obvious why McKellen is concerned about speed. He's still working, but he recently broke his wrist and chipped a vertebrae after falling onstage during a performance of Player Kings, a condensed version of the Shakespeare plays Henry IV: Part 1 and Part 2. “I’m left feeling weak physically, which I’m doing exercises for,” the actor said. “And, of course, it’s emotional. We all trip all our lives, it’s just when you get to my age you can’t always get up again.”

Again, McKellen has no plans to quit working, but at some point it will be out of his control. As for Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen talked back in July about the prospect of returning to the franchise. "Sure. I don't know exactly what the story is, I haven't heard. Maybe I'll hear about it eventually," he said. "I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot."

"I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise."

With de-aging technology, it's probably possible to get both of these guys on the screen and to have them look more or less like they did during the original Lord of the Rings trilogy from Peter Jackson, who is producing The Hunt for Gollum. However, there is a question of whether that should happen, even if it's possible. If they're going to keep making Lord of the Rings movies, at what point do you bring in a fresh crop of actors rather than bringing back ones who starred in these movies over 20 years ago? I love Jackson's original trilogy, but I'm also interested in seeing the series go somewhere new.

There's no release date for The Hunt for Gollum as of yet, so we're not sure what exactly their plans are. Stick around and we'll find out.

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