Amazon has recently acquired the global television rights to “The Lord of the Rings,” based on the celebrated fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The movie trilogy which earned almost $3 billion worldwide and scooped 17 Oscars had an A-list cast including Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen.
The casting for the TV series adaption may be far away even for consideration for Amazon Prime. However, Sir Ian McKellen is not ready to give up his iconic role of Gandalf just yet.
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The veteran actor and ‘The Exorcist’ co-star Jenny Seagrove dropped by Graham Norton’s show to discuss their West End show, but Graham couldn’t let him leave without asking what he thought of Amazon’s planned series.
“Amazon are doing a TV series of Lord of the Rings,” Graham began. “Now isn’t that annoying? That there’s going to be another Gandalf in town?”
“What do you mean, another Gandalf?” McKellen replied, prompting Graham to ask if that means he’s taking part in the series.
“I haven’t said yes because I haven’t been asked,” the actor continued. “But are you suggesting that someone else is going to play it?
“Gandalf is over 7000 years old, so I’m not too old [yet].”
Amazon confirmed it had reached a deal with JRR Tolkien’s estate to expand the lore of the Lord of the Rings franchise in a new prequel series and maybe even a potential spin-off too in November, reportedly spending about $200 million to secure the rights.
The series is still in early development with no scripts, premises, cast or any other creative personnel working on anything that’s been officially announced.
However, one Lord of the Rings star who is ruling himself out is Andy Serkis who plays Gollum.
“I don’t know if I’d want to go back into the Lord of the Rings realm,” he said. “I feel like I’ve spent a large chunk of my life doing that. I’ll say good luck and I think fresh eyes are probably a good thing.”
