Empire Online spoke to Christopher Lee and discovered that the esteemed 86-year-old has hopes of dusting off his wizard’s robes to play Saruman again in Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

How will Saruman make an appearance when the character never appeared in the book itself? The two-film adaptation will doubtless need to add an abundance of new material and Lee’s expertise on his character could help fill-in the gaps.

I’ve read the books time and again, Originally Saruman The White and the rest of the wizards, or the Istari as they call them, were immortal. There were five of them, two of them never appear, I know their names but they never appear, and the only three that are mentioned are Saruman The White, Gandalf The Grey and Radagast The Brown. I’d be interested in seeing how that transition from good to evil occurred and, yes, of course I would return to the role if I was asked.

Christopher Lee turned down the role of King Balor in Guillermo’s Hellboy II but it is unlikely that he would hesitate in bringing back Christopher Lee to reprise his wizard role for the second film that will cover the time period between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit book review
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