Peter Jackson’s trilogy of Lord of the Rings films are some of the most beloved and critically praised films of the 21st century. Not only were they incredible successes at the box office, but all three films were awards season juggernauts – The Return of the King won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for – but their cultural impact is still being felt today. It’s been over 20 years since the trilogy came to a close in 2003, and Jackson’s films are still seen as the blueprint for fantasy filmmaking and storytelling.
With that kind of success, it was a no-brainer that audiences would return to Middle-Earth in some form in the following years. The first instance of this came with the Hobbit trilogy in the early 2010s, which Jackson returned to direct. Those three films were astronomical box office successes once again, though they fell far short of the acclaim and influence of The Lord of the Rings.
They each grossed over $900 million worldwide, with An Unexpected Journey joining the billion-dollar club. Many actors from the Lord of the Rings films reprised their roles in the Hobbit movies, giving fans the excitement of seeing their characters brought to life once again. However, it hasn’t just been in The Hobbit that actors from The Lord of the Rings have reprised their roles. Here is every instance, from The Hobbit and beyond, that an actor from LOTR has reprised their role in a major way:
10 Ian McKellen – Gandalf
Of all the characters in The Lord of the Rings, there is arguably none as iconic as the wizard Gandalf. The wandering wizard is a staple character of the series, playing lead roles in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings novels, in addition to receiving further development in other Tolkien novels like The Silmarillion. The character was already massively popular before Jackson’s films, and his was one of the most important casting decisions in the entire series. Thankfully, they landed upon Ian McKellen, who has gone on to define the character in the minds of countless fans.
McKellen’s Gandalf Is at the Series’ Core
Gandalf plays a very similar role in The Hobbit as he does in The Lord of the Rings. He’s the wise grey wizard who nudges the central Hobbit characters out of their comfort zones and onto their respective adventures. Bringing McKellen back for the Hobbit trilogy was a no-brainer. Although he was excellent in The Lord of the Rings, many of the character’s most iconic moments come from The Hobbit, primarily in its opening chapters.
By returning for Jackson’s prequel trilogy, McKellen was able to further his interpretation of the character and tackle these quintessential Tolkien scenes.
9 Elijah Wood – Frodo Baggins
While Gandalf may be the most iconic character in The Lord of the Rings, he is not the lead. That role is filled by Frodo Baggins, who was played in Jackson’s films by Elijah Wood. The actor had an unimaginable weight put on his shoulders stepping into the role of Frodo, as the entire trilogy of films would center around his performance. Clearly, Wood delivered, as his portrayal of Frodo was the emotional center of the entire trilogy.
Bringing Frodo into The Hobbit
Given that Frodo is a character that only really existed in the pages of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, and he never factored into any other stories the author wrote, it may be somewhat surprising that Wood has returned to the role outside that trilogy. However, he played the role once again, briefly, in Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
He appears early in the film, as the audience is being reintroduced to the world of Middle-Earth through the eyes of an old Bilbo Baggins. This early sequence blends right into the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, as Frodo is excitedly prepping for his uncle’s birthday party before running out the door to meet Gandalf as he arrives in Hobbiton. This is little more than a cameo for Wood’s Frodo, and he does not return in either of the Hobbit sequels, but it was a nice moment to bridge the gap between the two film trilogies.
8 Ian Holm – Bilbo Baggins
Just as Wood returned as Frodo, Ian Holm also returned to portray the elderly Bilbo Baggins, as he had in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Holm appeared periodically throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the bulk of his scenes coming in the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring.
In that film, Holm provided much of the early narration and exposition, as his version of Bilbo explained the land of The Shire and the culture of the Hobbits that populated it. Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time that Holm had been involved in a production of The Lord of the Rings, as he also voiced Frodo in a 1981 radio adaptation of the story from the BBC.
Further Tying The Hobbit into The Lord of the Rings
Holm reprised his role as Bilbo in a very similar capacity in the prequel Hobbit trilogy. The first film, An Unexpected Journey, opens in a very similar fashion to The Fellowship of the Ring, as an elderly Bilbo provides the narration and exposition needed to introduce the story. While he only appears in the opening of An Unexpected Journey and at the conclusion of the final chapter, 2014’s The Battle of the Five Armies, Holm’s presence is still felt throughout the whole trilogy, as Martin Freeman was cast specifically due to how closely he could match Holm’s performance in the role. Sadly, his part in The Battle of the Five Armies would be his last film role, as he quietly retired from acting before passing away in the summer of 2020.
7 Bret McKenzie – Figwit
The inclusion of Bret McKenzie on this list may seem a little strange, as many people likely didn’t know he was in The Lord of the Rings or are altogether unfamiliar with the actor. The actor – who is also one half of the Flight of the Conchords comedy duo with Jermaine Clement – does not play a key role in The Lord of the Rings, nor is he extensively featured in The Hobbit, but yet he has his own interesting corner of success within the franchise.
In Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, McKenzie was an extra who just so happened to make an impact. Though he had no lines in The Fellowship of the Ring, his appearance as an elf in Rivendell sparked fire, as fans online became obsessed with him and nicknamed his character “Figwit” – an acronym of “Frodo is great, who is that?”.
Figwit vs. Lindir
Thanks to the online popularity of Figwit, Jackson would bring McKenzie back for The Return of the King a few years later, even going as far as giving him a line in the movie this time around. He speaks to Arwen briefly in her decisive moment to abandon her journey to the Grey Havens and return to Rivendell and choose a mortal life with Aragorn. A decade later, McKenzie returned to Middle-Earth once again with a larger role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This time, he returned as the elf Lindir in Rivendell, who was an existing character pulled out of the Fellowship of the Ring novel.
There is some debate as to whether Lindir and Figwit are the same character, with McKenzie himself believing they are not, but many fans have retroactively made the assertion that he could have been Lindir in the original Fellowship of the Ring film, considering the character does not appear in the film and Figwit was never an official name for McKenzie’s role. On a completely different note, as an interesting aside to all of this, McKenzie also went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2012, as he wrote the song “Man or Muppet” for 2011’s The Muppets.
6 Hugo Weaving – Elrond
Appearing alongside McKenzie’s Figwit/Lindir in Rivendell was the much more important character of Elrond, who was portrayed by Hugo Weaving in Jackson’s films. Weaving played the role in all three Lord of the Rings films, with his largest part being in The Fellowship of the Ring. Casting Weaving in the role seemed like a strange fit at the time, as he was most well-known for playing the villainous Agent Smith in The Matrix at that point. However, the regality and wisdom he conveyed as Elrond made a strong impression on audiences and defined what it meant to be an Elf in Middle-Earth.
How Elrond Has Lived on
Weaving returned to the role of Elrond for the Hobbit films, which was expected considering the character makes his first appearance in Tolkien’s writings in a key chapter early in the Hobbit novel. His role was significantly expanded for the films, however, as the subplot of the White Council and their investigation of Dol Goldur was taken from the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings and added into the story of the Hobbit films.
In that way, Weaving was also able to return for a notable role in both An Unexpected Journey and The Battle of the Five Armies. Separately, the character of Elrond has also returned to screens in Prime Video’s series The Rings of Power, where he is portrayed by Robert Aramayo.
5 Orlando Bloom – Legolas
Elijah Wood’s Frodo and Ian McKellen’s Gandalf are not the only members of the Fellowship that have returned to screens beyond the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Orlando Bloom’s Legolas also makes a return in the Hobbit trilogy. The traveling company of Bilbo and the Dwarves come face to face with the Elf while they are traveling through the Woodland Realm ruled by his father, Thranduil.
Legolas and Tauriel, a new Elven character created for the Hobbit films, take the Dwarves captive and significantly delay their journey. The return of Legolas was a big selling point in the advertising for the second Hobbit film, which is understandable considering Bloom was just recently coming off the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy as well.
The Return of Legolas was Controversial
Although Bloom’s Legolas was a fan-favorite character in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, his return to the role in the Hobbit films sparked quite a debate among fans. This is primarily because the character of Legolas was not featured in Tolkien’s original novel. Some fans viewed inserting Legolas into the story as a thinly veiled attempt at nostalgia-baiting audiences. While that may be true to some degree, his inclusion in the story also makes perfect sense. Yes, he was not in the original book, but that’s primarily because Tolkien hadn’t created the character yet, not because he didn’t belong there.
As a resident of the Woodland Realm and the son of the Elven King Thranduil, a character who plays a significant role in The Hobbit, it would make more sense for Legolas to appear in the Hobbit films than it would for him to be mysteriously absent from them. With that, Bloom’s Legolas appeared in both the second film, The Desolation of Smaug, and the final, The Battle of the Five Armies.
4 Andy Serkis – Gollum
Of all the incredible performances in The Lord of the Rings, none of them were as groundbreaking as Andy Serkis’ in the role of Gollum. While motion-capture performances had been done before, it was Serkis and the incredible digital effects team that really cemented and legitimized the approach on a broad scale.
Just as McKellen had come to define the role of Gandalf, Serkis’ performance as Gollum became the definitive interpretation of the character. After appearing briefly in The Fellowship of the Ring, Serkis was then upgraded to one of the primary characters in both The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Though his actual face is only glimpsed in the prologue of The Return of the King, Serkis has become one of the actors most closely associated with the success of The Lord of the Rings.
Andy Serkis Has Returned as Gollum… and Every Other LotR Character
Just as the return of Legolas was a significant part of the marketing for the second Hobbit film, the return of Serkis as Gollum in An Unexpected Journey was also a substantial portion of that film’s marketing. The “Riddles in the Dark” chapter of The Hobbit is the most iconic and memorable part of the book, and seeing Serkis get his shot at bringing it to life opposite Freeman’s Bilbo was electrifying. Though he has not only been in the first Hobbit film, Serkis has also played Gollum elsewhere.
Specifically, he has brought the character to life again in the form of a number of audiobooks that he has narrated. He has served as the voice of new audiobook versions of The Hobbit, all three Lord of the Rings books, and even The Silmarillion, which released earlier this year. Serkis’ reading of the books and performances as all the characters (including Gollum) within them are outstanding, and they have become the go-to audiobook versions of Tolkien’s works.
3 Cate Blanchett – Galadriel
In the role of Galadriel, Cate Blanchett had a small but crucial part to play in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Her voice is the first thing that is presented when The Fellowship of the Ring begins, as she provides the voiceover for the opening prologue. As Galadriel is one of the oldest living beings at the time of The Lord of the Rings, her relaying the story of the One Ring’s forging and the first war against Sauron immediately establishes much of the epic tone and deep lore that defines the franchise.
She only appears briefly in The Fellowship of the Ring, when the Fellowship travels through Lothlórien, and then she is seen even less in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, yet Blanchett and her performance as Galadriel are fundamental to the world the films build.
Galadriel Has Continued Like Elrond
Just as Hugo Weaving returned as Elrond in the Hobbit trilogy, Blanchett also made a return as Galadriel in the prequel films. Unlike Elrond, Galadriel was not originally featured in the Hobbit novel, but her inclusion in the films was adapted from other stories that detailed Gandalf’s plot with the White Council that unfolded concurrent with the events of that novel.
She appears in a key scene in Rivendell in An Unexpected Journey, but she was only briefly seen communicating with Gandalf in The Desolation of Smaug before coming back for a climactic showdown with the Necromancer / Sauron in The Battle of the Five Armies. Since then, Galadriel has also returned as a central character in The Rings of Power, though she is portrayed by Morfydd Clark in that series.
2 Christopher Lee – Saruman
One of the primary antagonists of the first two Lord of the Rings films is the White Wizard, Saruman the Wise. Played in the films by Christopher Lee, Saruman was one of the Istari, beings of immense power who had been sent to Middle-Earth to stop the return of Sauron. Gandalf was the only of these five wizards to stay true to this task, and Saruman eventually became embroiled in his own fear, greed and lust for power.
This duality between Saruman and Gandalf is one of the central conflicts in both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. While Lee’s Saruman only appears briefly in the extended version of The Return of the King, and not at all in the theatrical cut, his performance in the first two films establishes Saruman as one of the most memorable characters in the whole trilogy.
Saruman and the White Council
Alongside Blanchett’s Galadriel and Weaving’s Elrond, Christopher Lee’s Saruman also appeared as part of the White Council in the Hobbit trilogy. Given that The Hobbit is set some 60 years prior to The Lord of the Rings, Saruman is still generally seen as a force for good by his peers during the story. He is the leader of the White Council, yet he is dismissive of Gandalf’s claims that the Necromancer in Dol Goldur could be Sauron.
He appeared in both An Unexpected Journey and The Battle of the Five Armies. Sadly, the final Hobbit film was also the last film of Lee’s that was released while he was alive, as the legendary actor passed away in 2015, about six months after the film’s release.
1 Miranda Otto – Éowyn
The Two Towers introduces many new stories and places into the Lord of the Rings, but most prominently is the land of Rohan, home of the fierce horse-riding Rohirrim people. Throughout both The Two Towers and The Return of the King, several Rohirrim characters are given the spotlight, though most prominently is Éowyn, the shield maiden niece of King Theoden.
Played by Miranda Otto, the character is a much-needed force in the story of The Lord of the Rings. She brings a lot of heart to the story of The Two Towers before undergoing one of the most inspiring tales of determination in The Return of the King, which ultimately leads to her defeating the Witch King of Angmar during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Eowyn Will Return This Year
You’d be forgiven for not knowing why Otto is on this list, as she technically has not returned to the role yet. However, later this year, she will be reprising the role in the new animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. While that film is primarily a prequel about the ninth King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand, set several hundred years before The Lord of the Rings, Otto’s Éowyn will serve as the narrator of the story.
Not only is this a fun opportunity for Otto to return to Tolkien’s world, it also firmly ties this new movie into the continuity of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.
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