Lord of the Rings co-stars Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan will venture to six foodie locations around the world in a new series guest-starring Sir Ian McKellen.
The actors are best known for their roles as high-spirited hobbits Merry and Pippin in the Oscar-winning fantasy adaptation filmed in New Zealand.
Now they are appearing on screens once more for Billy and Dom Eat the World.
‘Quite some time ago, Billy and I spent three years exploring Middle-earth,’ the newly-released trailer begins.
The trailer then shows clips of their adventures, from riding on horses across vast landscapes to pulling a food cart along the road to chowing down on countless delicious meals in places such as Japan and the Outer Hebrides.
In one scene Billy, 55, and Dominic, 47, meet with former co-star Sir Ian – who played Gandalf in the trilogy – in his London pub where the 85-year-old actor admits he used to confuse the two when filming Lord of the Rings.
Sir Ian – who is recovering from a fall off the stage – owns east London pub The Grapes.
He shared a photo of the trio on his Instagram with the caption: ‘My goodness, how well Merry and Pippin turned out, a quarter of a century after we met in Hobbiton.’
The idea for the show was inspired by the meals they used to share with their co-stars during the creation of the Peter Jackson films.
It developed new life during the Eat the World segment of their podcast, The Friendship Onion, which has since ended.
‘The podcast folded, but Billy and I had said right from the start that is we could find something in the podcast that we could build out into a show, we would,’ Dominic told Deadline.
‘One of our favourite ways to get to know a city is to check out a local restaurant. Myself, Billy, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin go to conventions very often, and one of the things we do over these weekends is pick a restaurant, and go and eat.’
‘If you ask someone to bring you something from their childhood or their country, it opens a door to conversation,’ Billy shared, adding it is a great way to connect communities.
As for how the collaboration with Sir Ian came about, Billy explained: ‘It happened we were looking at London pub culture and it just so happens Ian McKellen has a pub.
‘He told us why he ended up in that part of London, and what pubs mean to Britain.’
The duo hopes this show will span multiple seasons and are prepared to ‘spend six hours on a bus to make sure we get the story we want to tell’ in the name of ‘authenticity’.
It’s an exciting time for Lord of the Rings fans at large.
Both filmmaker Peter and Gollum star Andy Serkis also recently announced their return to the Tolkien universe.
They are creating a prequel about Gollum, with co-stars Viggo Mortensen and Cate Blanchett sharing they would also be on board if the story was the right fit.
There is currently no release date for Billy and Dom Eat the World.
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