Ian McKellen Thinks There Will Be Even More Middle-Earth Movies After ‘The Hobbit’

We have two clips from Peter Jackson’s sixth and final entry into Tolkien cinema, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, opening December 17th. But wait, is it really Jackson’s final film based in Middle-Earth? Gandalf doesn’t seem to think so.

Sir Ian McKellen was hinting at more movies when he spoke to the BBC at the London premiere of the third Hobbit film, saying, “I was told by Peter, in 2001, that that was the end, that it was all over. Here we are 13 years later. So I don’t believe necessarily this is the end of the journey.”

Explains THR:

McKellen may have been merely playfully speculating, but given that Jackson returned to Middle-earth once before and given that he has spent a decade or more creating the infrastructure necessary to make more films — he has gone to great lengths to create elaborate sets, studios, weapon and armor makers and puppet workshops to name just a few — then the idea doesn’t seem so outlandish.

Yeah, don’t be surprised if he announces a trilogy based on The Silmarillion then splits the third movie into a two-parter. Hell, I’d watch a spinoff based solely on Lee Pace’s eyebrows.

So full of history and mystery.

During the London premiere Warner streamed a clip from Battle showing, um, battle.

Meh. I’ve never been able to get into CGI battle sequences, although I do enjoy the more down-to-(middle)-earth dialogue scenes like this next clip, in which Bilbo volunteers for a dangerous task because he secretly has the One Ring in his possession. Gandalf needs to get a message to Thorin, but Thranduil refuses to help. Bilbo says he can do it because “they won’t see me”, a hint at the invisibility the ring gives him (or maybe it’s just cocaine courage).

We’re also going to use the phrase “I’m not asking you to allow it, Gandalf” the next time someone tells us we can’t do something.

Via Warner Bros. Pictures and ONTD