Warner Bros. is committed to producing multiple full-feature The Lord of the Rings movies, and that means some old characters could return. It is unclear which actors from the trilogies would be willing to return and reprise their roles. However, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are among Hollywood’s most successful movie franchises. With the upcoming movies based on the novels and appendices of J.R.R. Tolkien, there’s an almost endless world of new stories to tell.
However, when it comes to franchises, not all actors are open to reprising their roles in future movies. For others, especially those whose careers were shaped by the films, there’s often a sense of commitment and loyalty to the showrunners or the project itself. Although Warner Bros. is yet to assemble a cast, there are indications several Lord of the Rings cast members are open to coming back. On the production end, although there is no official word on whether Peter Jackson will continue as director, Jackson’s interview with Variety indicates there’s still open communication between his team and Warner Bros. Here is the list of The Lord of the Rings actors who could return for future movies.
Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
Elijah Wood played the LOTR trilogy’s main protagonist, with the franchise storyline revolving around his journey to destroy the One Ring. In an exclusive interview with Extra, Wood admitted he’s open to play Frodo Baggins and return to Middle-earth if called upon. Wood’s role as Frodo is his biggest movie role to date. The final installment in LOTR, The Return of the King, his highest-grossing movie, earned $1.146 billion at the Box Office.
Since his last appearance as Frodo in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Woods has starred in several other film and television productions. However, since the end of 2014, Wood has spent most of his time producing movies. Wood joined the cast of Yellowjackets in 2023 for the series season 2. Woods plays Walter, a citizen detective, as a recurring cast member.
Andy Serkis as Gollum/Sméagol
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is not complete without the character of Gollum/Sméagol and his obsession with the One Ring. It’s different to think of an actor who could have given life to the character as Andy Serkis did. Luckily, he was the first The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings original cast member willing to reprise his role. Serkis quickly added he’d jump at the chance to work with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens again.
Since the last time playing Gollum in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Serkis has starred in several popular franchises and movies. Serkis played Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War of the Planet of the Apes (2017). He was Ulysses Klaue in the MCU’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018). The actor also played Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). After playing Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman (2022), Serkis’s latest movie is Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023), where he played David Robey.
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
The returned King of Gondor, Aragorn, was one of the top characters in the LOTR trilogy films. With a last-minute decision, Viggo Mortensen was cast to play the role and became one of the most beloved characters in the trilogy. With Warner Bros.’s decision to make more movies, there’s no telling if viewers would get to see Aragorn once again. Although there have been no hints or confirmation from Mortensen about reprising his role as Aragorn, the 2014 The Telegraph interview reveals he had one problem with The Fellowship of the Rings sequels. Mortensen was vocal about Peter Jackson’s excessive reliance on and use of CGI in subsequent LOTR movies and The Hobbit trilogy. While he did consider it a ‘mess,’ Mortensen has never explicitly turned down the idea of a comeback.
In today’s CGI-dominated film productions, CGI will certainly play a big part in future LOTR movies. It’s uncertain if it’ll make Mortensen turn down future LOTR projects. Mortensen last played Rick Stanton in the biographical survival movie, Thirteen Lives (2022), about the Tham Luang cave rescue. In Mortensen’s upcoming movie, The Dead Don’t Hurt, the actor plays Holger Olsen. The movie is written, co-produced, and directed by Mortensen.
Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Unlike the other main cast of LOTR, Gandalf appears in all movies in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. No other actor has shown a willingness to reprise their roles as Ian McKellen has done in the past. When Amazon was gathering its cast for The Rings of Power tv series, McKellen admitted in a BBC interview that he had been waiting for the call. With Gandalf over 7,000 years old, McKellen believes he’s never too old to play the part. Ian McKellen has had an impressive career away from LOTR, having played Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto in the X-Men film franchise before and after his run with The Hobbit and LOTR trilogies. Not one to retire from a profession he loves dearly, McKellen’s upcoming movie, The Critic, is a British period thriller, which will have the actor play the role of Jimmy Erskine.
Orlando Bloom as Legolas
Orlando Bloom did justice to his Elven character, Legolas. Almost like Ian McKellen, Bloom reprised Legolas for LOTR sequels and the second and third films in The Hobbit trilogy. Responding to a reporter’s question during a press tour for Carnival Row in 2019, Blood drew concerns that he may be too old to play Legolas once more. However, there’s every indication that if Peter Jackson is hired for these future films and recast the trilogy actors, age wouldn’t necessarily be a problem for Bloom since they have all added the same number of years to their respective ages. As far as LOTR full-feature movies are concerned, most audiences will continue to regard Bloom’s Legolas as the face of an Elven warrior.
Besides LOTR, Orlando Bloom played Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He played Rycroft Philostrate in the Amazon tv series Carnival Row, which premiered on August 30, 2019, and aired its final episode on March 17, 2023. Away from The Lord of the Rings, Bloom has three upcoming movies, with two of them, Gran Turismo and Wizards!, set for release in 2023.Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
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