Elijah Wood Hopes New Lord of the Rings Movies Aren’t Just Made for the Money

Elijah Wood has some thoughts about Warner Bros. plan to make “multiple” new Lord of the Rings movies.

In a recent interview with GQ, Wood seemed to express conflicted feelings about the impending use of the IP. Wood played Frodo Baggins in the original Peter Jackson trilogy, which collectively went on to gross over $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office. The films were a smash hit, even garnering a few Oscar nods along the way. While not much is known about what the future of JRR Tolkien’s world on the big screen, Wood seems skeptically curious about what’s to come.

“I’m fascinated and I’m excited. I hope it’s good,” he said. “I’m surprised—I don’t know why I’m surprised because, of course there would be more movies.”

He continued: “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.’ 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.”

In Wood’s eyes, though, Jackson’s original trilogy wasn’t made out of desire for money.

“It came out of a passion for these books and wanting to see them realized,” Wood explained. “And I hope that that is ultimately what will drive everything forward with whatever these subsequent movies are. 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.” 

For Warner Bros, investing a beloved franchise such as The Lord of the Rings makes complete sense, but rights have always been an issue facing any studio trying to adapt Tolkien’s works. Amazon owns the TV rights and released the first of five planned seasons of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power last year to mixed feelings. The second season of the massively-budgeted series is currently in production, and there have already been a few incidents on set. An anime film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, will be released on April 12, 2024.

Expanding upon Tolkien’s world seems on brand for WB’s new strategy under CEO David Zaslav, as shown by a recent streaming call in which HBO announced a flurry of new projects inspired by past properties. Among those include a full television series remake of Harry Potter, which will be a “faithful adaptation” of JK Rowling’s novels.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.