'The Lord of the Rings' Amazon Series News: Ian McKellen Willing to Reprise Role as Gandalf?
Ian McKellen is open to reprising his iconic role Gandalf in the "The Lord of the Rings" series being developed over at Amazon.
In a BBC radio interview with Graham Norton, the veteran actor was asked about the possibility of being replaced in the series.
However, he cannot seem to grasp the idea of another actor stepping into the legendary role, which he played and made famous in the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit," and jokingly said:
What do you mean another Gandalf? I haven't said yes because I haven't been asked, but are you suggesting someone else is going to play it? Who would be suitable?
At 78, McKellen reminded that he is not "too old" to play the character again the "Lord of the Rings" series. After all, Gandalf is 7,000 years old.
While not much is known about the adaptation at this time, media outlets believe that McKellen's Gandalf return can make sense storywise.
In the $250 million mega-deal with the J.R.R. Tolkien estate, Amazon acquired the global television rights to the whole "The Lord of the Rings" franchise including Middle Earth stories by the author that were not translated for cinema as well such as "The Silmarillion."
Because of this, Den of Geek believes that Amazon is taking the anthological route for the project or is using the content for a spinoff, which, in turn, would warrant McKellen's Gandalf to return.
Add to that the fact that the streaming giant is positioning it as one of its flagship series that will compete with the likes of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Of course, the development for "The Lord of the Rings" is still in early stages. It is also a matter of going around McKellen's schedule with the actor currently involved in a modern version of "Hamlet" called "Hamlet Revenant."
