The cast of the Lord of the Rings: Then and Now
The Lord of the Rings trilogy remains one of the biggest and most influential film franchises to date, the crowning achievement of then little-known director Peter Jackson.
The films launched the careers of a whole host of actors and cemented some as bonafide stars, with many still recognised for their roles more than 20 years after the final film hit cinemas in 2003.
Now a new Lord of the Rings film has been confirmed for release in 2026 with Jackson at the helm once again, so let's revisit the original cast and see what they've done in the last two decades.
Keep reading to see where the cast of the Lord of the Rings trilogy are now.
The hobbits: Dominic Monaghan, Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin
Frodo Baggins (second left) is the film's protagonist, supported by three of his fellow hobbits: Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck, Peregrin 'Pippin' Took and Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee.
They were played by (L-R) Dominic Monaghan, Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin. But Wood – who became the face of the trilogy – was never meant to land the role of Frodo.
Elijah Wood then
American actor Elijah Wood nabbed the leading role as Frodo when he was just 18, despite the production team originally insisting they'd only hire British actors to play the hobbits.
Wood broke that rule.
He was so keen to be part of the LOTR films that he recorded his own audition tape of himself dressed as a hobbit, which wasn't common at that time, and sent it off to director Peter Jackson.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Sean Astin then
Sean Astin was 28 when he was cast as Sam, a character he'd never even heard of before his agent told him about the project.
"I didn't even know what Lord of the Rings was when my agent called me," he told Collider.
Though his character didn't do anywhere near as much fighting or stunts as some of the others, it didn't save Astin from a gnarly on-set injury.
While filming one of the final scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, the actor ran into a river and impaled his foot on a huge shard of glass. It cut through his prosthetic hobbit feet (which all the hobbit actors had to wear) and several centimetres into his foot.
Sean Astin now
Thankfully, Astin recovered and went on to have a very successful career as a TV, movie and voice actor.
Fans were delighted to see him in the spotlight again when he picked up the role of Bob Newby in Stranger Things. They were less impressed when his character was gruesomely killed off though.
As for his connection to LOTR, it's something the 53-year-old holds dear.
"Nothing can take away the 20 years of fandom that's come at me, all the conventions and autographs and interviews and the awards shows and everything that's gone into it. It's defined my whole life from my thirties to my fifties," he told the outlet.
Dominic Monaghan then
Dominic Monaghan was cast as Merry when he was 22 and formed a quick bond with his fellow hobbits; Wood, Astin and Boyd.
He and Boyd, who played Pippin, grew incredibly close over the course of filming – and not just because their characters are best friends in the trilogy.
"Well, Merry and Pippin are one of the great examples, I think, of a pure friendship in Lord of the Rings," Monaghan told Forbes in 2021.
Dominic Monaghan now
After LOTR, Monaghan made appeared in hit series Lost and even got a gig as an X-man, starring alongside Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
He and Boyd stayed close and launched a podcast together called The Friendship Onion. In fact, most of the actors who starred in the trilogy stayed in touch, though it's hard to get them all together.
"It's very hard for all of us to be in the same room together. It's like herding cats at the best of times," Monaghan quipped.
Billy Boyd then
At 32, Billy Boyd was the oldest actor cast as a hobbit when filming started, but that certainly didn't make him the most mature.
He played Pippin and got up to plenty of mischief on the set of the trilogy, alongside co-star turned best mate Monaghan.
Boyd even had an ongoing prank war with Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn, which ended when Mortensen surprised Boyd by planting a huge kiss on his mouth during one take of Sam's wedding scene in Return of the King.
"I think I fell in love for a split second. And then I felt a bit sick," he said in behind the scenes footage.
Billy Boyd now
Now 55, Boyd has done plenty of TV work on series like Grey's Anatomy, as well as a fair bit of voice acting. He even appeared in another historical fantasy – Outlander – in 2019.
Boyd Is also a passionate musician and frontman of the band Beecake, which shouldn't come as a surprise given he sang the haunting tune 'Edge of Night' in Return of the King.
Legolas: Orlando Bloom
Legolas inspired many a teenage crush when LOTR came out, due in no small part to the fact that Orlando Bloom was playing the role.
He nabbed the role as the fair-haired elf just two days after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Though he originally auditioned for the much smaller role of Faramir, Jackson thought he'd be perfect as Legolas.
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