After the Hobbit trilogy, there was really no more reason for Ian McKellen to reprise the role of Gandalf in any property, but it looks like WB has found a way.
According to Deadline, McKellen has been approached to reprise the part of Mithrandir a.k.a. the Gray Pilgrim a.k.a. Gandalf the Gray for upcoming Lord of the Rings movies directed by Andy Serkis—the working title being Lord of the Rings: The Hunt fo Gollum.
It’s not clear who the story will be about, but some suspect that it could have something to do with a younger Aragorn as he goes off to find one the creature that bears the ring that lead to the downfall of his ancestor Isildur. Serkis is also expected to reprise the role of Smeagol/Gollum.
As for Gandalf’s role in the story, he’s expected to be alive and well during this point, and he should be going around Middle-earth just doing whatever wizards do. At 85-years-old though, we shouldn’t really be expecting McKellen to be as active as Gandalf was in the original LOTR trilogy. Then again, they can always just get someone else to do the stunts, like they did for Christopher Lee in the Hobbit films.
Though no script has been finished yet, Deadline does say that the script will be coming from original trilogy writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. They will also have Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The War of the Rohirrim) as co-writers.
I’ll admit, another Gollum property is the last thing I would expect out of Lord of the Rings, but if they have something good in mind, I’m willing to give it a try. In the meantime, I’m pretty fine with Amazon’s LOTR series, The Rings of Power which pretty much captures the tone of the Peter Jackson trilogy, but focuses on new characters.
No specific release date has been announced for Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, but it is expected to hit theatres sometime in 2026. In the meantime, you can get your Middle-earth fix with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power now showing on Amazon Prime Video.
