Director Peter Jackson has plenty of movies, but few are quite as iconic as the book to screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. That trilogy, which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription, is still a beloved piece of film history that’s regularly re-watched to this day. But new information about them keeps trickling out. Case in point: Gandalf actor Ian McKellen revealed a funny question he had to ask early onto filming as the beloved Wizard.
The Lord of the Rings movies are a visual treat, and McKellen expertly brought Gandalf to life throughout them. But it turns out that the character’s final goodbye to the Hobbit from Return of the King was actually one of his first scenes to work on. In a conversation with journalist Jake Hamilton, the legendary actor offered some context, saying:
The next scene I did two days later was in the studio when Gandalf is saying goodbye to the four hobbits, before sailing off into the sunset. This was the last movie, the last scene in the third movie was the second scene I ever shot.
Movies are typically not shot in order, but the fact that McKellen started his LOTR journey by working on the last scene of Return of the King is especially wild. He was just starting to bring Gandalf to life, and had to get in the mind set of the character after the twists and turns of all three movies.
Later in the same interview, McKellen went on to share the funny question he asked Peter Jackson while bringing that early scene to life. In his words:
There were these four young hobbits, and I had to say to Peter Jackson, ‘Ugh, do I know these guys?’ He said, ‘Yes, you’ve been through an awful lot with them, had a lot of adventures. ‘Do I like them?’ ‘Yes, you like them.’
Given how much the Lord of the Rings movies and books mean to people, this story might have folks spitting out their coffee. But since Ian McKellen had only just begun shooting as Gandalf, he didn’t necessarily understand the context of his final scene with the Hobbits of The Shire. Luckily he got the information he needed to give a convincing performance.
McKellen has spoken about the challenges that came with the Lord of the Rings movies, which ended up being wildly successful. This amusing story is just the latest. While speaking about his second day of shooting, the 86 year-old actor poked fun at his performance in the sequence in question, saying:
If you ever see that third movie, you’ll see that Gandalf’s face is serene and conveys nothing, because there was nothing going on in my mind.
Talk about self-deprecating humor. There are plenty of LOTR fans who might argue about how effective his work was in this scene, but McKellen was the one physically on set. And he seems to be have clocked his own confusion when watching the theatrical cut.
The Lord of The Rings movies are streaming now on HBO Max, and a new title The Hunt for Gollum is on its way. As for McKellen, he’s set to appear in the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday, which hits theaters on December 20th as part of the 2026 movie release list.