Sir Ian McKellen Says He's Down to Play Gandalf Again in New 'Lord of the Rings' TV Series

Sir Ian McKellen is very much down to reprise his role as Gandalf in the upcomingLord of the Rings television series. McKellen made the comments on the BBC's Graham Norton show, Digital Spyreports.

The exchange began when Norton brought up the new Amazon produced Lord of the Rings series that's in the works. "Now isn't that annoying? That there's going to be another Gandalf in town," Norton remarked.

"What do you mean, another Gandalf?" McKellen shot back. "I haven't said yes because I haven't been asked," he continued. "But are you suggesting that someone else is going to play it? [...] Gandalf is over 7000 years old, so I'm not too old [yet]."

McKellen previously held down the role of Gandalf in all six of the Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. The new Amazon-produced television series, which is still in the very early stages, is going to be extremely expensive to create. Deadline recently reported that Amazon paid $250 million to secure the global television rights from the Tolkien Estate and each season will cost anywhere between $100 million and $150 million to create. The series will reportedly take place in Middle Earth prior to the events in The Fellowship of the Ring.

The BBC episode with McKellen also featured guests James Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Head here to listen.