Orlando Bloom has spoken to Andy Serkis about a potential Lord of the Rings return as Legolas, and it sounds like AI could be involved
Orlando Bloom could be back in the pointy ears
Orlando Bloom is open to heading back to Middle-earth.
Bloom, of course, played Legolas in all six of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. Now, though, Gollum performer Andy Serkis is set to helm another installment in the fantasy franchise, and Ian McKellan has already revealed Gandalf is likely to return.
By the sounds of it, Legolas could be back, too, if Bloom is invited to return. "Oh, man, those things are amazing. Yeah. I don't know how they'd do it. I guess with AI you can do anything these days," Bloom told Variety. "But, if Pete [Peter Jackson] says jump, I say, 'how high?' I mean, he started my whole career."
But, Bloom isn't totally up to speed with what's going on. "I really don't know what [they are planning]," he commented. "I did speak to Andy [Serkis] and he did say they were thinking about how to do things. I was like, 'How would that even work?' And he was like, 'Well, AI!' and I was like, 'Oh, OK!' It was a pretty magical time in my life, and it's one of those things where there's not a downside to it."
It's unclear how exactly AI will factor into the movie, then – but, since it's a prequel, we'd wager that it might be involved in de-aging any of the returning actors (if indeed there are any).
Right now, you can get your fill of Middle-earth with The Rings of Power season 2, which is streaming on Prime Video. Check out our The Rings of Power season 2 release schedule to keep up to date, or our The Rings of Power season 2 review for our verdict on the new episodes.
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I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.