Elijah Wood Reveals Middle-earth Secrets
At a panel during the Fan Expo in Portland last weekend, Elijah Wood, the actor known for his role as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, shared some interesting insights. He nearly missed delivering Frodo’s iconic line to Gandalf, where he says, “Okay, keep this secret.”
Wood mentioned that this scene was shot during a pickup, not during the main filming. “I’m pretty sure that sequence is from the pickup,” he explained. Interesting, right? It’s fascinating how some of the most memorable moments come from the later stages of production.
Frodo’s line ended up in the final cut of the 2001 film, which kicked off an entire series inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. During his talk, Wood also described the tough filming process for the pickups. He recalled, “The people with the most makeup had the quickest pick-up times.” He shared a particularly grueling experience: “I think Lurtz, the Uruk-Hai, was picked up around midnight and went through five or six hours of makeup. My earliest pickup was at Osgiliath at like 3:30 a.m. It was exhausting.”
Wood starred alongside a talented cast, including Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, and Cate Blanchett. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released in 2002, followed by The Return of the King in 2003. Despite the trilogy’s massive box office success, which earned $2.9 billion globally, Wood revealed at the 2025 Texas Film Awards that the cast didn’t receive substantial salaries. “We weren’t making one movie and then renegotiating for the next, so it wasn’t as lucrative as one might think,” he said.
However, he added a thoughtful perspective: “The benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that will be a part of our lives forever.” It seems, even with the challenges, the experience has been invaluable to him.
Looking ahead, there’s more planned for The Lord of the Rings universe. The Hunt for Gollum is set to be directed by Andy Serkis, who famously portrayed Gollum. McKellen hinted last year that he and Wood might reprise their roles in the 2027 film. At a fan event, he teased, “There’s a character called Frodo, and there’s a character called Gandalf. Other than that, my lips are sealed.” Can’t wait to see where this goes!
