Hobbits are heading to the Hub this weekend as actor Dominic Monaghan joins his Middle-earth pals at Fan Expo Boston on Saturday and Sunday to celebrate 25 years of “The Lord of the Rings” movies.
Monaghan, along with fellow hobbits Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, and Billy Boyd, have traveled the country together to honor the milestone, as this year marks the 25th anniversary of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” filmmaker Peter Jackson’s 2001 adaptation of the first book in J.R.R. Tolkien’s acclaimed trilogy, hitting theaters. Bringing the party to Boston this weekend, the crew will take part in a panel with fans on Saturday night, and will host a special “second breakfast” feast on Sunday morning.
“Twenty-five years is obviously a big year for people who are in relationships or people that are in jobs, so it makes sense that there’s an added level of interest,” Monaghan told the Globe in a phone interview. “But to be honest with you, I don’t think the interest is any bigger than it was in its 24th year or in its 23rd year. It just seems to be the film project that keeps its relevance more than anything else that I’ve been involved with.”
Ahead of Fan Expo Boston, Monaghan opened up about his “Lord of the Rings” experience, his friendship with Ian McKellen, and more.
Q. When you get to chat with fans at events like this, what are the moments or memories that seem to pop up the most?
A. Fans of those films tend to want us to answer the same questions over and over again. They want that comfortable feeling. I think certainly the hobbits are in a lot of ways very homely, very comfortable, very safe. They’re the emotional core of the film. ... So for us specifically, the four boys, they just want to talk about our friendship, they want to talk about what we did when we were in New Zealand. They want to talk about how our friendship continues to this day. What we do. They love hearing about the fact that we all continue to go for dinner together. That we know each other’s families. That we support each other. So I think that’s what they want, to just consistently have us remind them that yes, this is a real friendship, and yes, it’s ongoing.
Q. Having lived with Merry Brandybuck for a quarter of a century now, how has your relationship with the character evolved?
A. I was 23 when I made those films. I’m going to turn 50 in December, so obviously a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. You could put a strong argument forward to say that Merry’s probably the most different character of all the fellowship if you compare the book version of him to the film version of him. In the book, he’s the first hobbit to know about the ring and what it’s all about, and the magic and the significance of the ring. He’s the most learned about the Shire, the area, the local environment. He’s the smartest. He’s traveled the most alongside Frodo. The more and more I’ve read about Merry over the years, the more I’ve come to realize that he was a big player in in the fate of of Middle-earth.
Q. You got to work with Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee on these films. What are your favorite memories with those two giants?
A. There’s so many fun giggles with Christopher Lee. I was in the car with him the first time he was brought to set, so I’d been picked up at 5:15. I think he was picked up at 5 in the morning. It was the first time meeting him. He was in the front seat. I was in the back seat. I said, “Good morning, Christopher. My name’s Dominic. I’m playing one of the hobbits in the films. It’s fantastic to meet you.” And he turned to me with that incredible voice and said, “I have never been picked up this early in my entire career.” And I was like, “Oh God, OK.” So I just kind of stayed quiet. But he was a lovely guy. He gave an incredibly gushing farewell speech to all of us, and was extremely complimentary about what Pete Jackson, and to a much lesser degree we, had all been able to achieve. He was a darling of a man.
It’s even more with Ian. Ian and I are friends. I stayed at his house last year when I was in London. He’s just an absolute darling of a man, a full-on established English legend and a national treasure type thing. I think we all just love spending time with Ian. I think one of the more interesting relationship things about Ian and I is, you know, Gandalf is known for smoking pipe weed with Frodo and Bilbo. The actual hobbits in real life are not necessarily the biggest fans of pipe weed, but Ian and I are. There has been several times where Ian and I said, “Well, we need to keep up with the cliche idea of hobbits and wizards hang out and smoke pipe weed.” So we consistently do that when we get the opportunity.
Q. You now play a wizard, the legendary Merlin, in “The Librarians: The Next Chapter.” Did you channel McKellen or Lee, Gandalf or Saruman, for Merlin?
A. This is a Merlin that is extremely keen to blend in with modern society. So you do see him in a beard, like a little bit, but for the most part, he’s trying to be a modern man. The thing that I connected to with Merlin is he is the physical embodiment of magic. Magic to him is to us what water or air might be. He needs it to survive. It’s his life force. He’s almost obsessed with it and fixated on it, and because of that, it causes major problems in his life. So I think he’s probably more leaning towards Saruman than he might be leaning towards Gandalf.
FAN EXPO BOSTON
Aug. 7-9, Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St. fanexpohq.com/fanexpoboston
Interview was edited and condensed.
Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.