Possibly exciting news for Lord of the Rings fans. Amazon has not approached Sir Ian McKellen about the role of Gandalf; however, he has expressed interest in being Gandalf for their future television show Lord of the Rings. Mckellen said this today (December 16th) in an interview with Graham in Graham Norton’s BBC Radio 2. This interview mainly focuses on McKellen and Jenny Seagrove advertising their play The Exorcist.
However during the radio show, Graham had to ask McKellen, “Amazon are doing a TV series of Lord of the Rings. Now isn’t that annoying? That there’s going to be another Gandalf in town?”
McKellen’s reply was, “What do you mean, another Gandalf?”
“Gandalf is over 7000 years old, so I’m not too old yet.”
Just over a month ago Amazon officially announced they are coming out with a multi-season Lord of the Rings television series. Many fans were (and rightfully so) concerned that the television show might not live up to the iconic movie series. So Amazon, McKellen, at the least, seems interested in playing the role. Now we as a fan base understand the show is still in its early stages, and Amazon is figuring out all the creative nuances which are needed to create the show.
Nevertheless, Lord of the Rings fans might have a hard time seeing anyone besides Sir Ian McKellen play Gandalf. With this news we possibly do not have to. If Amazon were to add McKellen to the television franchise, the concern some fans might have can be quelled with this casting choice.
Now remember, the Lord of the Rings television series is still in its extremely early stages. Amazon still needs to think of a concept for the series and write the script. It will take some time before an official cast list is revealed. But hopefully with McKellen expressing his interest, Amazon will (at one point) approach him to put the bread back on and be Gandalf again.