Ian McKellen Just Dropped A Bombshell About The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum

History tends to repeat itself, and that's rarely been more true than in "The Lord of the Rings." The Dark Lord Sauron keeps suffering defeat after defeat by the free peoples of Middle-earth, only to rise up from the ashes again and try to take over the world all over again. The One Ring itself ended up in the hands of a Halfling named Gollum, passed on to another Halfling in the form of Bilbo Baggins, and then claimed its last wearer through the Hobbit Frodo. Time is a flat circle, etc. Of course, we know that Gollum himself is about to receive his very own movie, tentatively titled "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum." But after the latest round of news revealed by Sir Ian McKellen, it seems like this prequel film is about to take its cues from franchise history one more time — for better or worse.

If you found it a tad excessive for director Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" movies to take a breezy children's novel and stretch things out to an unwieldy three movies, well, brace yourselves now. The former (and possibly future) Gandalf actor, now that he's on the way to recovery following that recent fall he suffered, is celebrating his new lease on life by openly blabbing about top-secret developments that he probably shouldn't be saying. We stan a king who simply can't be contained! While making an appearance on the UK's "This Morning" talk show, the 85-year-old star addressed rumors that he might reprise his role as everyone's favorite wizard for the prequel film "The Hunt for Gollum." Although he attempts to play coy and remain noncommittal about whether he'll actually accept the offer to return, he does spill the beans about a tantalizing bit of info.

Apparently, the plan is to split "The Hunt for Gollum" into two separate films ... much like the initial concept for the "Hobbit" two-part adaptation.

Yes, all indications are that actor/director Andy Serkis is about to make "The Hunt for Gollum" much more ambitious than we ever thought. That's according to the very dapper Ian McKellen, who had this to say when asked about his involvement in the upcoming movie:

"Well, all I know is that they called me up and said these films were going to happen, that [they're] mainly going to be about Gollum, Andy Serkis who played Gollum is going to direct, and there will be a script arriving sometime in the new year [...] and then I'll judge whether I want to go back [laughs].

I'm told it's two films. I probably shouldn't be saying this [laughs]. But I haven't read the script, and I don't know when it is, and I don't even know where it will be filmed."

Man, if only the character of Gollum previously appeared in a movie that might as well be the poster child for taking a simple story and expanding it well beyond what it was meant to be. Oh wait, precious, he did! Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, however, and it appears that the ominous warnings laid down by "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and it's two (two!) super-sized sequels are going unheeded with "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum." As I previously laid out for /Film, the source material is awfully sparse regarding the events that this movie will be adapting. Set over the course of over two decades, the story follows the ranger Aragorn and his close friend Gandalf as they pursue Gollum in an attempt to pry information out of him regarding the rise of Sauron and the location of the One Ring.

Is that enough for two feature-length epics? We have our doubts, but we'd love to be proven wrong. Stay tuned to /Film for more updates on this production (er, make that productions) as they come in.