Was David Bowie almost cast to play Gandalf?

Turns out the rumors are true: David Bowie did audition for the Lord of the Rings. Actor Dominic Monaghan, who played the hobbit Merry in the series, says that he saw Bowie at the casting office while he was in London auditioning.

"I was at the Hubbard's, which is a pretty notorious casting agency office in London, doing an audition for Lord of the Rings, and when it ended I went over and talked to John Hubbard, who was running the audition, and he said, 'Hey, it went really well. You should wait around for five or 10 min. We'll give you some feedback,'" Monaghan said. "I thought, 'Oh, OK, cool, and I sat in the reception office. As I was reading a magazine waiting, David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in. I'm assuming he read for Gandalf. I can't think of anything else he would've read for."

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has also hinted that Bowie auditioned — except he indicated that it was for the role of Elrond, not Gandalf. In an Entertainment Weekly interview in 2001, Jackson seemingly dropped the reason that Bowie ultimately didn't appear in the trilogy. "These are famous, famous characters, loved for nearly 50 years," Jackson said. "To have a famous, beloved character and a famous star colliding is slightly uncomfortable."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Bowie died on Jan. 10 at age 69 after an 18-month battle with cancer.