Elijah Wood gives his verdict on ‘surprising’ Lord of the Rings remakes

Elijah Wood has said he’s “surprised” by the numerous Lord of the Rings remakes on the way.

Months after the release of Amazon Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Rings of Power – “a billion-dollar bet Amazon shouldn’t have been allowed to make”, argued The Independent’s Louis Chilton – Warner Bros announced its series of impending Lord of the Rings movies.

The entertainment behemoth’s February news was met with despair from Lord of the Rings fans, who begged the originals be left alone.

Asked about his thoughts on the numerous remakes, Wood told GQ in a new interview that he is “fascinated”.

“I’m excited. I hope it’s good. I’m surprised – I don’t know why I’m surprised because of course there would be more movies,” the Lord of the Rings star said.

“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 clarified: “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.”

Wood, who originated the lead role of Frodo Baggins, went on to add that director Peter Jackson’s hit trilogy “didn’t come out of” a place of commerce but a place of “passion”.

“I hope that that is ultimately what will drive everything forward with whatever these subsequent movies are,” he said.

“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.”

Warner Bros has not yet made it clear when fans can expect anything to materialise on screen.

However, at the company’s press day on Wednedsay (12 April), the film and entertainment studio revealed they were moving forward with a decade-long Harry Potter TV adaption and a Big Bang Theory spin-off from original co-creator Chuck Lorre.