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Sean Astin is obviously grateful for his place in The Lord of the Rings film saga. He’s thankful that Peter Jackson allowed him to play Samwise Gamgee in the fantasy film series, and he loves the impact that it had on fans. However, the actor also feels it’s best to be honest about the experience he had making the movies.

Speaking to a crowd at The Lord of the Rings reunion panel at C2E2 2025, Astin opened up about the physical and mental toll the production had on him. “It was hard. Nobody wants to hear the actors say it was hard, but it was hard,” Astin admitted.

“I remember at one point, most movies, even a big movie they used to be like 3 months or 4 months. When we got to 5 months, my body clock was like, ‘Uh oh, we’re in uncharted territory here.’ I remember I was so heavy, I put on all this weight, and I was carrying the backpack, and the backpack was annoying. And I just remember having a panic attack.”

He continued, “It wasn’t the first time I had a panic attack. The first time I had a real panic attack was when I knew we were going to have to put the prosthetic on, when they were doing the mold in Los Angeles before we went there. I called my doctor and I’m like, ‘I’m having a heart attack.’ He’s like, ‘No, you’re just getting a face prosthetic, you’ll be alright.’"

The moment was enough to make Astin wonder if he was the right man for the job. 

“I remember going into our makeup bus," he told the crowd. "It was dark in there. It was basically like a hollowed-out truck and they put makeup stations in it. Each one was like our locker, and everyone decorated with their own pictures and whatever. I went in there, and I saw my face in the dark in the mirror, and I was like seized up, and then I just kind of looked at myself. And my thought was, what if I can’t do this? There’s no quitting. I’m a second-generation actor, and if my mom taught me anything, is that you’re a professional. You show up, you hit your mark, you say your lines, you do your job, that’s it. You give the director what they want."

Astin confessed, “I just remember thinking, this is too much. And then I kind of breathed through it a little bit." Thankfully, things began to turn around for him once he started counting down the remaining days in the shooting schedule. While that annoyed his fellow actors, it centered Astin, reminding him that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

“The lesson that I learned was that we are capable than way more than we think we are," he said. "We have incredible capacity.”

You can watch There and Back Again: A Lord of the Rings Cast Reunion from C2E2 2025's Main Stage for yourself, guaranteed by CGC x JSA, as part of Popverse's all-encompassing coverage of C2E2 2025.

Did you miss a C2E2 Main Stage panel? Don't worry, we're filming it all thanks to our partners at CGC x JSA -  our official authenticator & grading partner. Here is the C2E2 2025 panel list and release schedule.