New line/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Count actor Elijah Wood among those cheering for the upcoming Lord of the Rings movies.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Swedish media company Embracer Group announced earlier this year that they will be producing additional films based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in the hugely successful LOTR Peter Jackson film trilogy, spoke about what the new films could be in an interview with GQ.
“I’m fascinated and excited. I hope it’s good,” Wood told GQ. “I’m surprised — I don’t know why I’m surprised, because of course there would be more movies.”
A new Lord of the Rings and a reimagined Harry Potter are among the projects Warner Bros. Discovery is working on.
“The main thing, of course, is the desire to make a lot of money,” admits Wood. “It’s not like a bunch of executives saying, ‘Let’s make really great art.’ And again, it’s no offense to anyone, because of course it’s commercial. But great art can come from commerce. So these two things are not mutually exclusive.”
Wood said the films he acted in differed somewhat from this view.
“But [Jackson’s] Lord of the Rings didn’t come from there. It was born out of a passion for these books and a desire to see them realized. And I hope that ultimately will drive whatever these subsequent films are. I just hope that when they hire a screenwriter or a filmmaker, it’s essentially the same motivating factor – that it’s done with awe of Tolkien’s material and enthusiasm to explore it.”
The team behind the Peter Jackson films – including Jackson himself – have claimed they will be briefed on the plans, though there has been no announcement of any actual involvement.