'Lord of the Rings' Cast Reunites in a Series of Instagram Photos

It was a little more than 13 years ago that Peter Jackson completed his epic fantasy trilogy with The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the 2003 finale that went on to win Best Picture and Best Director Oscars (the first sequel to do so since 1974’s The Godfather Part II). And while Jackson himself has since revisited Middle Earth via his three-part adaptation of The Hobbit, his original cast members have set aside their magical duties and gone their separate ways — until now.

As People first reported, a series of new Instagram posts by Dominic Monaghan — who played hobbit Merry Brandybuck in the series — reveals that many of the LoTR principals recently reunited, including Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Billy Boyd. Alas, Sean Astin and Sir Ian McKellen didn’t get in on the photographic action, but the rest of the Fellowship seem to still be ready for battle — if a bit grayer than when they first set out on their epic adventure — in the pics below:

The reason for this get-together remains presently unknown, although the fact that each of the above snapshots boasts Empire magazine’s official Instagram tag suggests that it was for an upcoming print feature. Regardless of whether it was to celebrate a particular anniversary (maybe the 125th birthday of author J.R.R. Tolkien?), or simply to help facilitate the crew getting more matching tattoos — as they did at the end of the original production, as commemorated in the recently re-Instagrammed photo from Bloom below — the new images conjure up fond memories of Jackson’s saga, which remains the gold standard for modern fantasy films, as well as one of the most celebrated franchises of all-time.