Actor Ian McKellen is known for playing the wise wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie franchises, but he was not the first choice for the part. Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery turned it down, and now McKellen has reflected on how he feels about not being the first choice to play a role that he is now synonymous with.

"I don't think you're ever the first choice," he told Variety. "I certainly wasn't the first choice for Gandalf. Tony Hopkins turned it down. Sean Connery certainly did. They're all coming out of the woodwork now, and I hope they feel silly."

Patrick Stewart and Christopher Plummer were all in the running to play Gandalf. But in the end, McKellen got the part, playing Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King. Then he came back to play Gandalf again in the Hobbit trilogy.