Sean Astin on Lord of the Rings 20 Years Later and His New Perspective on Sam

20 years ago, on December 19, 2001, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in theaters, and the landscape of fantasy filmmaking was changed forever with Peter Jackson’s adaptation of . Tolkien’s series. The massive success of Fellowship of the Ring would go on to be followed by two equally successful sequels in 2002’s The Two Towers and 2003’s Return of the King. This year, Fellowship of the Ring was also selected for inclusion in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, which recognizes films for their cultural or historical significance. In celebration of Fellowship of the Ring’s 20th anniversary, Collider had the chance to chat with Sean Astin, who played the loyal hobbit and steadfast friend Samwise Gamgee. In the following interview, which you can both watch above and read below, Astin spoke about how his perspective on Sam is different now than it was when he first played the character 20 years ago and how the films defined his o