Greater than 25 years on from filming The Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins actor Elijah Wood has said he’s still attempting 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 or not it’s from you, I feel almost probably the most embarrassed,” Wood told Colbert, when asked to comment on rumors that he had never finished reading Tolkien’s trilogy. “I do know nobody else in my life that loves Tolkien greater than you,” Wood continued, looking sheepish, “and has read the books greater than perhaps anyone, in order that 25 years later… actually 27, as we began shooting in September 1999…
“I’ll no less than say this,” Wood finally stated, “there’s an update… I even have began them.”
To this, Colbert quipped that Wood did no less than understand 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).
During the last quarter of a century, Wood has portrayed Frodo Baggins in 4 Middle-earth movies — and appears set to soon appear in a fifth. In addition to the unique 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 can even see the return of Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Indeed, earlier this month Wood said he didn’t want anyone else playing Frodo “so long as I’m alive and able.”
Last week, it was reported that Titanic star Kate Winslet would play a significant unrevealed character in The Hunt for Gollum, and was planning to bring her family to Latest Zealand for nearly six months of shooting set to happen this 12 months between May and October.
Set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hunt for Gollum will expand upon the transient 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 transient story outline for the period written by Tolkien that mentions various characters looking for the famous ring of power.
It’s during this era that Sauron narrows his own seek for the Ring, while each Gandalf and Aragorn race to trace it down first. Exactly how all it will slot into Fellowship, whether Viggo Mortensen can also be back as Aragorn, and the way the movie will handle the incontrovertible fact that all of those actors at the moment are 20 years older stays to be seen.
The Hunt for Gollum is about to launch in theaters on December 17, 2027, meaning Wood has one other 18 months to complete 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 possibly can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social