Earlier this year, Warner Bros. announced it would be making new Lord of the Rings movies and the collective response was, “Wait, what?” Director Peter Jackson already made six of those—and with an animated film on the way, as well as a TV show at a competing studio, it was hard to have any perspective on what these films could possibly be.
One person who does have that perspective is Elijah Wood. Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in the original Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, is currently on Showtime’s Yellowjackets and was asked about the new films in a profile by GQ. His response was equal parts pragmatic and hopeful. “I’m fascinated and I’m excited. I hope it’s good,” Wood told the magazine. “I’m surprised—I don’t know why I’m surprised because of course there would be more movies.”
Wood continued. “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,’” he said. “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. But [Peter Jackson’s] Lord of the Rings didn’t come out of that place. 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.”
That feels like the right take. Yes, we want these movies to be good, whatever they end up being. Yes, it’s obviously a business decision because most movie-making is a business decision. And yes, you just have to hope whoever ends up grasping that ring for the journey ahead does so from a place of passion.
All six of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, including the extended editions of the originals, are currently streaming on HBO Max.
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