Sir Ian McKellen gives bleak timeline on career comeback after horror stage fall

Sir Ian McKellen has updated fans on his career after plunging head first into the audience in London's West End when he lost his footing on stage in June

Sir Ian McKellen has admitted it will be another year before we see him on stage again.

The Lord of the Rings star, 85, worried fans when he plunged head first into the audience at the Noel Coward Theatre after losing his footing on stage in June.

Despite recovering well after chipping a vertebrae and fracturing his wrist, the actor admits his mental health is taking longer to heal. Speaking about the incident, revealing he initially thought he'd broken his neck, he said: "What I’ve been left with is not so much a physical injury, but a mental disturbance because I thought it was much more serious at the time that it was."

Talking to Simon Mayo on his Greatest Hits Radio Drivetime, Sir Ian continued: "I think I thought I was about to die, I thought I’d broken my neck I’d forgotten but apparently, I’d said, ‘I’ve broken my neck, I am dying’ and if I said it, I must have thought that I was. And I’ve just got to deal with that. I’m not dying, not just yet and I hope I’ll get back to acting again on stage."

When asked when he would be treading the boards again, the actor admitted he would not return to the stage for another year, adding he'll "know" when the time's right. He explained: "I think I’ll know because the contract says I have to turn up at a particular time! I’m not proposing to work on stage for another year and I think by then this will all be alright."

The award-winning actor pulled put of Player Kings shortly after the accident in the summer, after admitting he was "too scared" to leave the house "in case someone bangs into me".

Speaking to Saga magazine shortly after the incident, he said: "My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet mended. I don't go out because I get nervous in case someone bangs into me, and I've got agonising pains in my shoulders to do with my whole frame having been jolted."

With stage roles a no-go for at least another 12 months, fans are wondering if the seasoned star may soon reprise his role as Gandalf in the two new rumoured Lord of the Rings films.

Teasing the possibility, Sir Ian told Simon: "One can’t be indifferent to the possibility that I might be able to go back and play a part that I thought I’d finished with nearly 25 years ago, There are apparently going to be two films that might involve Gandalf in some way, but until I’ve read a script I don’t know whether it’s something I’d want to do - but I do feel rather proprietorial towards him…"

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