Elijah Wood thinks it would be “pretty incredible” to reprise his role as Frodo Baggins in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’.
The 43-year-old actor played the hobbit hero in the iconic fantasy films, and has now revealed he is open to returning to the world of Middle-earth in Andy Serkis’ upcoming flick.
Speaking to JoBlo, he said: “It would be pretty incredible. I have to say, any return to New Zealand to work with those individuals within the context of that world would be … jumping back into a world that’s so beloved and means so much to me. So yeah, it would be awesome.”
While Wood’s involvement in the movie is uncertain, Peter Jackson - the filmmaker behind ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy - signed on to serve as executive producer on the new spin-off picture, which will see Serkis reprise his role a Gollum/Sméagol, as well as direct the flick.
Jackson explained it made more sense to give the character his own movie compared to the likes of Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson) or Legolas (Orlando Bloom) because the team “didn’t have time to cover” Gollum’s full backstory in the original pictures.
He told Deadline: “The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic.
“I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there's a little bit of both of them in all of us.
“We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn't have time to cover in the earlier films.”
Although he emphasised it was “too soon” to make any guesses about which other fan-favourite characters could appear in the movie, the filmmaker insisted the flick would stay true to ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ author JRR Tolkien's vision.
He said: “It's too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”
