By now I hope you're two-thirds of the way through AMC's new six-part miniseries, "The Prisoner," which launched on Sunday night and plowed through its third and fourth episodes on Monday. The series is about as good as sci-fi TV gets. Gone is the low-budget cheese of so many past cable series, and in its place are strong performances from talented actors, a twisty plot revealed slowly and expertly and a gorgeous overall look that is more Hollywood hit than small screen crud.

The first of last night's eps, "Anvil," delivers on all these fronts and contains one of the most intense scenes in the entire series (big spoilers ahead!). For the uninitiated — or those not familiar with the original British series on which this "Prisoner" is based — James Caviezel plays a man called Six, who finds himself stranded in the mysterious Village with no memory of how he got there. Attempting to make sure Six doesn't learn the truth about his environment is Two (Ian McKellen), who has a silently brooding son named 11-12, played by Jamie Campbell Bower ("New Moon"). Read more...

It's been over a decade since Ian McKellen donned Gandalf's robes on the set of the first film in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Now 10 years later, the British actor is itching to revisit Middle Earth. He recently read the script for the first of "The Hobbit" films, but with no start date for production, the guy is getting a little antsy.

"Gandalf is a fantastic part and I long to do it," McKellen told MTV News, adding that both he and "LOTR" director Peter Jackson prefer the earlier Gandalf the Grey version to his later, post-resurrection incarnation. "He was more humane somehow. He was the guy who liked to hang out with the hobbits and drink too much and smoke too much." Read more...

Yesterday, we posted some of Eric Ditzian's interview with Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the wizard Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" and upcoming "Hobbit" movies. In one of the more compelling bits, the actor revealed that the scripts for the two films with feature plotlines culled from other J.R.R. Tolkien sources.

McKellen wouldn't elaborate any further than that, but a recent interview Guillermo del Toro gave to TotalFilm may shed some additional light on what the Gandalf actor was referring to. "We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in 'The Hobbit' is well known to generations and generations of kids," the director said. "You don’t want to be moving stuff like that." So what's new? Read more...

Tolkien-ites freaked out over the fate of "The Hobbit" – when's it gonna start shooting? Will the studio's financial implosion affect production? Um, the movies are still happening, right?! – received a much-needed boost last month from Ian McKellen, who revealed he'd actually read the script.

MTV News had a chance to chat with Sir Ian while he was promoting his AMC mini-series, "The Prisoner," and the actor behind Gandalf the Grey revealed some more details – and clarified others – that keep the Tolkien boosts coming. Read more...

When Ian McKellen said that "The Hobbit" scripts would be delivered shortly, he really wasn't kidding. Not only are the screenplays turned in, but the once-and-future Gandalf has read them both.

McKellen spoke with Sci Fi Wire about the scripts, except that the role of Gandalf was particularly tailored to his sensibilities this time around.

"As Peter [Jackson] has said, they loved writing Gandalf [for 'The Hobbit'] because they knew who they were writing for," said the actor. "There are a lot of characters in 'The Hobbit,' including, crucially, Bilbo, and they don't know who's going to play Bilbo. So it's extremely attractive that this part has been written for me. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There's lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn't be happier. But I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm not to say anything at all about the script." Read more...

FROM SPLASH PAGE: Given recent comments from Sir Ian McKellen about his involvement (or lack thereof) in the upcoming "X-Men Origins: Magneto" film from Fox, it's time to face the inevitable—Magneto is going to be recast. This was already a virtual certainty due to the story's purported focus on the Master of Magnetism's more youthful days, but McKellen's words confirm the need for a new, younger actor.

Recasting Magneto is difficult for a number of reasons. For one, McKellen already played him so expertly that an actor of his quality is absolutely essential—and not only that, but it'd be a good idea to find someone who looks like they could age into McKellen's likeness, which is very tricky. For that reason, I think it's more important to focus on finding an excellent, fitting actor for the role, rather than selecting an actor based on his likeness to McKellen.

When and if "X-Men Origins: Magneto" gets underway, I think any one of these five actors has what it takes to bring the magnetically-inclined mutant back to the big screen.

Continue reading SECRET IDENTITY: Five Actors Who Could Play Magneto In 'X-Men Origins: Magneto'

Ah, "The Hobbit." At long last, movie-goers will once again have a chance to be whisked away to the real-life Middle-earth that Peter Jackson created for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Only this time that vision will be guided by director Guillermo del Toro. News has been relatively light on the project, which is understandable considering that it's still a few years off.

We fans will still take any update we can get, right? The latest comes from no less a personage than Sir Ian McKellen, aka Gandalf the Grey, speaking in an interview with Empire. The actor knows the score with "The Hobbit," and he had an update on where the powers-that-be are in the process of pulling the adaptation together. Read more...

-- Ian McKellen told attendees at an all-night "Lord of the Rings" screening that an actor has been selected to play Bilbo in "The Hobbit." There are no further details than that, though McKellen also mentioned that he'll be getting the script "within the next week." This falls very deeply into the rumor territory for now, though I have little doubt that a script exists or that there's a Bilbo short list. Especially since "Hobbit" director Guillermo del Toro told us as much in an interview. (TheOneRing.net)

-- The word is the "Fight Club" and "Zodiac" director David Fincher is all set to direct the Aaron Sorkin-penned "The Social Network," also known as "the Facebook movie" in some circles. As you might expect, the story follows the rise of the beast that we call Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Sorkin and Fincher make for odd bedfellows; I'll definitely see this one. (End of Show, via /Film) Read more...