It’s been over twenty years since Peter Jacksons phenomenal adaptations of Lord of the Rings went to box office and Oscar glory but there’s news that there will be two new Lord of the Rings films.
Andy Serkis will helm both films which will be written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the original trilogy, are set to write the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim) and Peter Jackson will produce.
But it appears that Gandalf the White will return and be played once again by Ian McKellen having told the Big Issue that, ‘“Enthusiasm for The Lord of the Rings shows no sign of abating … I can’t tell you any more than that. I’ve just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved and they hope that I’ll be playing him.”
Filming is rumoured to begin in 2025 with a 2026 release date and McKellen who is now 85 years old is taking the rest of 2024 off having fallen off the stage in a London theatre play he was appearing and is recuperating and he hopes he should be well enough to begin filming next year. adding, “When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So, they better be quick.”
The original trilogy earned $3billion worldwide and with the final film, The Return of the King, winning a record 11 Oscars winning in every category it was nominated something of a first and tied with Titanic (who can forget James Cameron’s ‘King of the world’ exclamation?) and of course Ben Hur way back in 1959
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