Sir Ian McKellen: 'I've had it with Gandalf'

The actor is ready to move on from his most iconic role.

Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf

Appearing on Larry King Now, celebrated actor Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed he won't be returning to Middle Earth. 

Long-established as a national treasure thanks to his successes on both stage and screen (he's a 'sir' after all), it's yet hard to deny that the role he will most fondly be remembered for remains Gandalf. The curmudgeonly, yet boundlessly wise and powerful, wizard; one who was arguably responsible for weaving so many of those narrative threads throughout both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. 

In a clip revealed by Comicbook, the actor states: "I think we've run out of material here. No, I think I've had it with Gandalf. Though I love going to New Zealand where they film it all, and they were great times. But I had about 15 years of it."

Considering the fairly lukewarm reception of the Hobbit trilogy, with Peter Jackson himself regretting its shambolic production; McKellen's comments may have little impact, since it seems fairly unlikely we'll be getting further Middle Earth movies. In this form at least. Wait about fifteen years and someone's bound to want a second stab at the whole thing. 
 

Though he's not made any similar declarations on his other long-running character, X-Men's Magneto, there's a question as to whether there will even be another opportunity to revisit the mutant. The actor won't be appearing in X-Men: Apocalypse, and even Michael Fassbender's future playing a younger Magneto is still in question.

It may finally have come time, then, for McKellen to cut his ties and invest in other projects. He already took a starring role as the iconic literary detective in this year's Mr. Holmes, and will play Cogsworth in the upcoming live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.