Sean Astin talks LEGO The Shire: ‘Why was that so much fun?’

The Lord of the Rings actor Sean Astin is front and centre for the LEGO Group’s marketing around its new Shire set, and he says even he was ‘susceptible to its charm’ while shooting the ads.

As well as narrating an animated tour of 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire, Sean Astin – who you’ll recognise as Samwise Gamgee from the original Peter Jackson movies – stars in at least one advert for the newly-revealed LEGO Icons set, and watching him introduce and play with the 2,017-piece model and its minifigures is basically enough to sell even the biggest sceptic.

It’s a masterstroke of marketing from the LEGO Group, but mostly credit to the charm that allowed Astin to so easily embody Sam in the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers and the Return of the King. Partly, though, it’s also thanks to the way 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire gave Astin licence to tap into his inner child in a way we’re probably all familiar with.

“[The LEGO Group] has figured out how to embrace this world of literature and kind of bring it down into something that lets you manipulate it,” Astin told Forbes. “I mean, at first it was just silly fun, you know, just making the Proudfeet walk around, trying to decide if Sam and Rosie should be standing anywhere near me and Pippin. And all of a sudden, you realise, it just gives you permission to enjoy your imagination.

“And that’s what happened to me, even though I was the actor who’s presenting the bricks, you know… I was susceptible to its charm.” Astin was very much aware of that feeling in the moment, too. “When I was driving home from the commercial shoot, I was just sort of thinking, why was that so much fun?” he added. “Why was it so much fun to play?”

It turns out Astin is another member of the coveted club of Celebrity Fans of LEGO (or CFOLs), as while he’s not necessarily been playing with the bricks in the same way he was able to in the shoot – his three daughters are ‘all grown now’ – he’s still been building. “Let’s just put it this way: last New Year’s, between Christmas and New Year’s, while other people [were] out playing pickleball, I was inside trying to build LEGO,” he said.

According to Astin, he and the filmmakers improvised lines of dialogue from the movies while toying around with the set for the shoot, and that playful approach very much comes through in the finished footage. Just try not to chuckle while he recites Sam’s pleading to Gandalf not to turn him into ‘anything unnatural’.

“What I always liked about the bricks was that even though they’re little, they’re kind of solid," Astin added. "You sense that you’re really building something. And, you know, once you get it to a certain height, then it’s time to knock it down.” Here, the interviewer injected with a suggestion of building the Scouring of the Shire. “Oh my gosh, we should have depicted that,” Astin agreed. Dark, but perhaps not entirely out of step with the Shire’s gift-with-purchase.

Unsurprisingly, Astin hopes he might be the ambassador for future LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets, should any more be in the pipeline following 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell, 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr and 10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire. “You know, for my money, LEGO, now that they have the merchandising agreement and they can do Lord Of The Rings, they’re going to probably want some dumb elf to do a commercial for the next one,” he joked.

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He may find himself back in brick-built circles sooner than that, though: The Goonies, which Astin also starred in back in the ‘80s, is currently on the LEGO Ideas production slate and should be hitting shelves sometime within the next 12 months. That will be music to Astin’s ears, given he told Forbes: “Eventually, I want every movie I’ve ever been in to be a LEGO set.”

LEGO Toy Soldiers? Sure, maybe. LEGO 50 First Dates? Erm… probably not.

10354 The Lord of the Rings: The Shire debuts on April 2 for LEGO Insiders (and April 5 for everyone else) for £229.99 / $269.99 / €269.99. Buy it between April 2 and 8 and you’ll receive a free copy of 40761 The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol (while stocks last).