Elijah Wood is neither confirming nor denying the status of his potential return as Frodo in the upcoming Andy Serkis-directed feature The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, but the longtime actor said he wouldn’t want anyone else to take up the mantle as long as he is “alive and able” to play the role.
In a new interview with The Times U.K., the child star-turned-fantasy performer mainstay acknowledged co-star Ian McKellen teasing details about the forthcoming movie to fans at a convention last year.
“It hasn’t been officially announced, but at a convention last August, Ian sort of let the cat out of the bag,” Wood told the publication. “So there is a good chance. I’m not able to officially say anything until it’s announced, but I will say I’m thrilled with the prospect of another film. It’s always a little nerve-racking when people talk about new movies for a world like Middle-earth. Everyone gets a little protective and hopes it retains its level of integrity, but this story is fun, thrilling. There is a genuine feeling of getting the band back together.”
Set for release in late 2027, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will tell the story of what happened between the end of The Hobbit prequel trilogy and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.
“I’m just excited,” Wood continued. As the interviewer noted that McKellen previously expressed he would not allow anyone else to play Gandalf, Wood answered: “Well, no, and I totally get that. I certainly wouldn’t want anybody else to play Frodo either as long as I’m alive and able. And I can also recognize what fun that is going to be — when you are in the cinema and you see the hat turn around and it’s Gandalf. Because I’m also a fan, and excited to see how it all comes together.”
Beginning in 2001 with the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first film of the Peter Jackson-helmed trilogy catapulted Wood to a new stratosphere of stardom as he took on the lead role of Frodo, the protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien’s books who is charged with a noble quest to save Middle-earth. In addition to the three films, Wood reprised the role in 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
The new installment will reunite the Oscar-winning team behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies — Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens — as they produce two new films for Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Zane Weiner is also producing. Walsh and Boyens are writing the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.