The Lord of the Rings Star Orlando Bloom Says He’d ‘Hate to See Anyone Else Play Legolas’ in The Hunt for Gollum

Orlando Bloom doesn’t want anyone else playing The Lord of the Rings elf Legolas, should the character return in Andy Serkis’ upcoming Middle-earth movie The Hunt for Gollum.

While Legolas’ involvement in the film is still to be confirmed, Bloom has said that if the character does appear, he’d “hate to see” another actor take on the role instead.

“Listen, I’d hate to see anyone else play Legolas, you know what I mean?” Bloom told Today, via EW. “What are they going to do? Are they going to put somebody else in as Legolas? With AI they can do anything these days!”

Set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Hunt for Gollum will chronicle various characters’ search for Serkis’ loin cloth-wearing creature, who knows the location of the series’ all-important ring.

During this period, both Gandalf and Aragorn seek the former hobbit in order to stop the ring from falling into Sauron’s fiery hands. Indeed, a scene from this time period is even shown very briefly in Fellowship of the Ring, where the words “Baggins” and “Shire” are extracted from Gollum via torture.

Last month, Gandalf actor Ian McKellen surprised fans by confirming his character would somehow return for the film, presumably with McKellen himself once again in the role. Frodo will also appear, McKellen revealed, while standing on stage with Elijah Wood.