Was David Bowie almost cast to play Gandalf?

David Bowie may have auditioned for the coveted role.

(Image credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

published 29 January 2016

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."