Orlando Bloom was put on the map by Peter Jackson when Jackson gave him the role of Legolas in his epic three film The Lord of the Rings franchise. He has gone on to star in other great projects, but he rightly credits Jackson for his success, and like many of his co-stars, Bloom says he’d love to return to the world Jackson created.
In a recent interview with Variety, a few days after Ian McKellen expressed interest in returning as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s new live-action Lord of the Rings movies, Bloom added his name to the list.
When asked if he was interested in returning to the Tolkien franchise, the Legolas actor said:
“Oh, man, those things are amazing. Yeah. I don’t know how they’d do it. I guess with AI you can do anything these days. But, if Pete [Peter Jackson] says jump, I say, ‘how high?’ I mean, he started my whole career.”
The new Middle-earth movies will kick off in 2026 with Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis, who will reprise his role of Gollum/Sméagol.
Original franchise director Jackson is on board to produce alongside his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The plan is for that film to be the start of a new live-action Lord of the Rings series.
Bloom said of the project:
“I really don’t know what [they are planning]. I did speak to Andy [Serkis] and he did say they were thinking about how to do things.
I was like, ‘How would that even work?’ And he was like, ‘Well, AI!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, OK!’ It was a pretty magical time in my life, and it’s one of those things where there’s not a downside to it.”
While the new Lord of the Rings movies are still in development at Warner Bros., McKellen said earlier in September, “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. When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”
Would you like to see the whole gang back for these new Lord of the Rings adventures?
