Ian McKellen On Reprising Gandalf In The Hobbit: It’s True!

Sir Ian McKellen is not a foolish man.

The thesp confirmed that he has spoken to Guillermo Del Toro, director of the upcoming adaptations of The Hobbit, and that he’s definitely going to reprise his Lord Of The Rings role as Gandalf.

“Yes, it’s true,” he told Empire. “I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it’s not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf.”

The first movie should be easy enough, but the second takes place in the timeline right in between The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings.  How is Del Toro going to manage that one? Is new material going to be added?

“Well I’ve read The Hobbit so I’ve got a good idea of what the story would be,” explained McKellen. “But as to how it’s going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet – I can tell you it’s going to be amazing though.”

Normally, we’d scoff at this sort of advance optimism.  But let’s face it — the man is probably 100% correct.