Sir Ian McKellen did a fantastic job in bringing the wizard Gandalf to life in the Lord of The Rings trilogy movies. In fact, he was so good that he even snagged an Oscar nomination for his work in The Two Towers. Director Peter Jackson also thinks the same way and if it were up to him McKellen would reprise his Gandalf role for the recently approved production of the LOTR prequel The Hobbit.
Sir Ian himself is quite excited about the idea of reprising his famous role. In a recent e-post he signified his interest in playing Gandalf once again and said that he is encouraged by pronouncements from both Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (both produced the LOTR movies as well as The Hobbit) that they cannot imagine any other actor playing Gandalf. The Hobbit prequel will be divided into two movies and will reportedly be helmed by Guillermo del Toro. Filming is supposed to begin by next year with the two movies to be shown in 2010 and 2011.
Hopefully, McKellen does get the coveted role. He has done a great job and he should continue doing it. Besides, his involvement will also help in the continuity of all the movies.