As Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line plan to develop more The Lord of the Rings movies, one of the stars from the original trilogy is cautiously optimistic.
Speaking to GQ, actor Elijah Wood — who starred as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy — said that he was “fascinated and excited” about the idea, and said that though the overall goal is to make money, good art can come out of that desire.
“I’m fascinated and I’m excited,” Wood stated. “I hope it’s good. I’m surprised — I don’t know why I’m surprised because, of course there would be more movies. Obviously at the core of that, is a desire to make a lot of money. It’s not that a bunch of executives are like, ‘Let’s make really awesome art.’ And, again, not begrudging anybody because, of course, it is commerce. But great art can come from commerce. So those two things are not mutually exclusive.”
Despite the optimism, however, Wood did note that the film series he was a part of wasn’t in it for the money, but instead were doing it out of a passion for the work of author J.R.R. Tolkien.
“But Lord of the Rings didn’t come out of that place,” said Wood. “It came out of a passion for these books and wanting to see them realized. And I hope that that is ultimately what will drive everything forward with whatever these subsequent movies are. I just hope that it’s the same motivating factor at its core, whenever they hire a screenwriter and a filmmaker—that it is with reverence for Tolkien’s material and enthusiasm to explore it.”
New Line Cinema and WingNut Films produced the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Tim Sanders serving as producers (Sanders only for The Fellowship of the Ring).
