James Corden auditioned to play a hobbit in the Lord of the Rings

If we were going to name the late night host most likely to have auditioned for the Lord of the Rings franchise, it would not be James Corden.

But Corden did, in fact, put himself in the running for Peter Jackson's film trilogy. While sitting down with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, The Late Late Show host revealed that he had once auditioned for the role of hobbit Samwise Gamgee.

Corden noted that basically every actor in London at the time was seeking a part in Jackson's epic trilogy. "Every single person in London auditioned for Lord Of The Rings. Everybody. I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing the accent and everything," he told Horowitz.

Dave J Hogan/Getty; Everett Collection

He called his audition "not good," despite giving it his all. Still, he did get called back for the part.

"Two of my other friends went in [to audition] and then we all got called back the next day," he said. "Then we got called back the next day, and then none of us got called back after that."

Ultimately, the role of Samwise, the loyal and devoted friend of Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), went to screen veteran — and American actor — Sean Astin.

Corden isn't the only late night host with a Tolkien affinity. His CBS counterpart, The Late Show's Stephen Colbert, is a self-avowed Tolkien super-fan, who we're certain would've jumped at the chance to audition for even the smallest of roles in the franchise. (He did, however, get to cosplay as his favorite characters on an EW cover).

In fact, Colbert did make a small cameo in Jackson's Hobbit films. And at San Diego Comic-Con last July, he secured a binding promise from the showrunners of Prime Video's Rings of Power series that they would cast him in season 2.

Still, with the Rings of Power series, it's not too late for Corden to don a pair of hairy feet. The host has announced that he plans to leave The Late Late Show at the end of the 2023 season and continue to seek new ventures in his acting career.

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