More than 25 years on from filming The Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins actor Elijah Wood has said he’s still trying to finish reading the books.
An embarrassed Wood made the admission this week while chatting with J.R.R. Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert, though said he did have something of a positive update to share.
“To have it be from you, I feel almost the most embarrassed,” Wood told Colbert, when asked to comment on rumors that he had never finished reading Tolkien’s trilogy. “I know no one else in my life that loves Tolkien more than you,” Wood continued, looking sheepish, “and has read the books more than maybe anyone, so that 25 years later… actually 27, as we started shooting in September 1999…
“I’ll at least say this,” Wood finally stated, “there’s an update… I have started them.”
To this, Colbert quipped that Wood did at least know how the books end. (Although, perhaps not, since Peter Jackson’s film trilogy famous trimmed out Return of the King’s final section detailing the Scourging of the Shire).
Over the last quarter of a century, Wood has portrayed Frodo Baggins in four Middle-earth films — and looks set to soon appear in a fifth. As well as the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, Wood returned for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Reports suggest he’s set to play the character again in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the forthcoming prequel directed by Andy Serkis which will also see the return of Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Indeed, earlier this month Wood said he didn’t want anyone else playing Frodo “as long as I’m alive and able.”
The Lord of the Rings Movies in (Chronological) Order
Last week, it was reported that Titanic star Kate Winslet would play a major unrevealed character in The Hunt for Gollum, and was planning to bring her family to New Zealand for nearly six months of shooting set to take place this year between May and October.
Set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hunt for Gollum will expand upon the brief scene in Fellowship where Gollum is pressed for answers on the Ring’s whereabouts by Sauron’s forces, which is in turn based on a brief story outline for the period written by Tolkien that mentions various characters searching for the famous ring of power.
It’s during this period that Sauron narrows his own search for the Ring, while both Gandalf and Aragorn race to track it down first. Exactly how all this will slot into Fellowship, whether Viggo Mortensen is also back as Aragorn, and how the movie will handle the fact that all of these actors are now 20 years older remains to be seen.
The Hunt for Gollum is set to launch in theaters on December 17, 2027, meaning Wood has another 18 months to finish The Lord of the Rings before he’s inevitably asked about his reading progress again.
Image credit: Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social