Hugo Weaving as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema

Actor Hugo Weaving, who played Elrond in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, recently announced he has no intention to return to Middle-earth and explained why.

Hugo Weaving as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema

Speaking to Games Radar, Weaving announced, “Personally, I’ve had enough of that. It was great being in New Zealand on and off over a ten year period. I did then go back and work with the same team [director Peter Jackson and writer Fran Walsh] on a project called Mortal Engines which was going to be their next big franchise, but it died on its arse.”

“So, I’ve had enough of Middle-earth I don’t imagine anyone would ask me to do it again,” he added.

Hugo Weaving as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema

Weaving then noted that even if he did return to play Elrond in the recently announced Hunt for Gollum movies, it would not work given the immortality of his character and the fact that he’s gotten older.

He explained, “Elrond is meant to be immortal and I’m aging. Elrond is one of the few characters, I think there’s only three or four of them, who spans through The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. But even when we went back to reshoot certain parts of Lord of the Rings, I was aware I was older than I was before. And shooting stuff on The Hobbit was starting to get slightly silly.”

“I loved being a part of that franchise but I have absolutely no plans or desires to be a part of it anymore,” he reiterated.

Hugo Weaving as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema

While it seems clear Weaving will not be reprising the role of Elrond in The Hunt for Gollum movies, it is likely that Ian McKellen will return to the role as Gandalf.

During an appearance on This Morning, McKellen shared, ““Well, all I know is that they called me up and said that these films were going to happen, mainly be about Gollum, Andy Serkis, who played Gollum, is going to direct, and there would be a script arriving some time in the new year. That’s next year. And then I’ll judge whether I want to go back.”

He continued, “But I would. I would love to go back to New Zealand, number one. And I also don’t like the idea of anybody else playing Gandalf.”

When asked if there was more than one film, McKellen shared, “I’m told it’s two films. I probably shouldn’t be saying, but I haven’t read the script and I don’t know when it is and I don’t even know where it’ll be filmed because these days I could probably film it all in London, but I’d rather not. I’d rather go back [to New Zealand].”

Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), Warner Bros.

On top of McKellen, Andy Serkis will reprise his role as Gollum. Furthermore, he will also be directing the film.

Serkis told Deadline about his plans for the films, “Gollum has always stuck with me throughout all of these years. I’ve read audio books of the trilogy and the Silmarillion and The Hobbit, so Tolkien’s world has never left me in all of that time since we did the first films. And the character particularly has remained such an enormous part of my life. So it’s absolutely thrilling to be able to go back and do a deep dive into his world again, and specifically into Gollum’s psychology.”

“I know we’re all interested in investigating on a deeper level who that character is, and on top of that, to be able to direct and hopefully create a film which has its place within the canon, but also something that’s fresh and new and a different approach,” he added.

Andy Serkis speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Black Panther”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

As for whether other characters from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Hobbit might show up, he said, “That’s a difficult question to answer right at this moment in time, because we’re really in the nascent stages of what it is exactly where we’re doing, and where the story’s going to take us.”

“So I don’t want to commit anything right now. I mean, because it’s so raw and so raw and wriggling, and we are just literally having very early state script discussions and ideas of exactly where and how we’re going to drop anchor with the character and his journey and how he is or comes into contact with other characters, and the characters that we know and don’t know. So still, I would hate to say anything that’s going to commit us at this point, because it’s literally all up for grabs,” he concluded.

Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Warner Bros. Pictures

As for what one might expect in The Hunt for Gollum, Gandalf informs Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring, “Light, light of Sun and Moon, he still feared and hated, and he always will, I think; but he was cunning. He found he could hide from daylight and moonshine, and make his way swiftly and softly by dead of night with his pale cold eyes, and catch small frightened or unwary things. He grew stronger and bolder with new food and new air. He found his way into Mirkwood, as one would expect.”

Gandalf then informs Frodo that he did indeed see Gollum in Mirkwood, “‘I saw him there. … but before that he had wandered far, following Bilbo’s trail. It was difficult to learn anything from him for certain, for his talk was constantly interrupted by curses and threats.”

After recalling the manner of Gollum’s curses and threats, he told Frodo, “But from hints dropped among the snarls I gathered that his padding feet had taken him at last to Esgaroth, and even to the streets of Dale, listening secretly and peering. Well, the news of the great events went far and wide in Wilderland, and many had heard Bilbo’s name and knew where he came from. We had made no secret of our return journey to his home in the West. Gollum’s sharp ears would soon learn what he wanted.”

Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Warner Bros. Pictures

When asked why Gollum did not make it to the Shire, Gandalf said to Frodo, ” I think Gollum tried to. He set out and came back westward, as far as the Great River. But then he turned aside. He was not daunted by the distance, I am sure. No, something else drew him away. So my friends think, those that hunted him for me.”

As for who those friends are, Gandalf regaled Frodo, “The Wood-elves tracked him first, an easy task for them, for his trail was still fresh then. Through Mirkwood and back again it led them, though they never caught him. The wood was full of the rumour of him, dreadful tales even among beasts and birds. The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young; it slipped through windows to find cradles.”

Next, Gandalf explains to Frodo how he let the trail go cold, “But at the western edge of Mirkwood the trail turned away. It wandered off southwards and passed out of the Wood-elves’ ken, and was lost. And then I made a great mistake. Yes, Frodo, and not the first; though I fear it may prove the worst. I let the matter be. I let him go; for I had much else to think of at that time, and I still trusted the lore of Saruman.”

Elijah Wood as Frodo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Billy Boyd as Pippin, Ian Holm as Bilbo, Dominic Monaghan as Merry, and Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures

However, with the help of Aragorn he was able to pick it back up again, “And my search would have been in vain, but for the help that I had from a friend: Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. But at last, when I had given up the chase and turned to other paths, Gollum was found. My friend returned out of great perils bringing the miserable creature with him.”

“What he had been doing he would not say,” Gandalf said to Frodo. “He only wept and called us cruel, with many a gollum in his throat; and when we pressed him he whined and cringed, and rubbed his long hands, licking his fingers as if they pained him, as if he remembered some old torture. But I am afraid there is no possible doubt: he had made his slow, sneaking way, step by step, mile by mile, south, down at last to the Land of Mordor.”

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Warner Bros. Pictures

READ: ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Actor Viggo Mortensen Blasts Franchise Films: “They’re Not Usually That Good” And “They’re Not Usually That Well-Written”

Finally, Gandalf informed Frodo that Aragorn captured him after he had left Mordor, “When he was found he had already been there long, and was on his way back. On some errand of mischief. But that does not matter much now. His worst mischief was done.”

He also informs Frodo that Sauron learns from Gollum that the One Ring is likely in the Shire, “through him the Enemy has learned that the One has been found again. He knows where Isildur fell. He knows where Gollum found his ring. He knows that it is a Great Ring, for it gave long life. He knows that it is not one of the Three, for they have never been lost, and they endure no evil. He knows that it is not one of the Seven, or the Nine, for they are accounted for. He knows that it is the One. And he has at last heard, I think, of hobbits and the Shire.”

Ian McKellen as Gandalf confronts King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2022), New Line Cinema

What do you make of Weaving’s comments regarding returning to The Lord of the Rings?