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Dominic Monaghan — among the Hobbits celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary this weekend at Fan Expo Boston — talks about “Lord of the Rings” fandom, and much more.

J.R.R. Tolkien never mentioned this, but apparently Hobbits play Wordle.

And they share their scores in the group chat, just like humans.

“We also do the New York Times crossword in the mornings, trying to see who can do it the fastest, and who got stuck on a clue,” Dominic Monaghan says with a laugh in our recent phone interview. 

The Hobbit group chat is lit, it seems. 

“We’re always chatting. We’re a very tight-knit group,” says Monaghan, who plays Merry Brandybuck in Peter Jackson’s hit “Lord of The Rings” trilogy. “We tend to finish each other’s sentences, and know what the other is going to say.”

Hear the Hobbits — Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Monaghan– finish each other’s sentences, and serve you a Middle Earth-style “Second Breakfast,”  this weekend at FAN EXPO Boston Aug. 7-9 at the Thomas Michael Menino Convention and Exhibition Center.

Castmates Orlando Bloom, Wood, Astin, Monaghan, Boyd, Karl Urban, John Rhys-Davies, and John Noble will also meet with Boston fans in special events, photo opps, autograph sessions, and more.

The four Hobbits reunite for “An Evening with the Hobbits: In Celebration of 25 Years,” Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m., before waking up to serve “Second Breakfast: An Unexpected Feast with the Hobbits” Sunday at 8 a.m. (Billed as “a celebration that will rival Bilbo Baggins’ 111th Birthday,” so bring your appetite.)

A quarter century after Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” — and 89 years after Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” published — the fandom is stronger than ever. 

Production is now underway on “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” directed by Gollum himself, a.k.a. Andy Serkis, and slated for a Dec. 17, 2027 release, per Variety.

The next installment, tentatively titled “Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past,” will be co-written by LOTR super-fan/Tolkien obsessive Stephen Colbert. Peter Jackson and Colbert announced the news in March via Warner Bros.

We called Monaghan, 49, to talk all things Tolkien, “Lost,” “Star Wars,” Colbert, playing Merlin on this season of TNT’s “The Librarians: the Next Chapter,” how Harrison Ford changed his life, and more. 

In conversation, the Manchester, England native was warm, down-to-earth, and laughed often. Merry was, well, merry. 

Boston.com: I love that you’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Lord of the Rings” here in Boston. When you do these events, what type of fans do you get most often? “Lord of the Rings,” “Lost,” “Star Wars”?

Dominic Monaghan: The most is “Lord of the Rings.” I’d say 50 percent “Lord of the Rings,” and the remaining half split between “Lost,” “Star Wars,” “X-Men.” Then every so often you have fans of [something else]. Like I did this detective show when I was, like, 18 years old [“Hetty Wainthropp Investigates”], and people come for that. 

In fact, the last event I did, someone knew me from this Eminem music video I’d done. I was chatting to the guy; I signed this photo of me in this Eminem video [“Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna in 2010]. When he was leaving, he said: ”Have you done anything else?”

[laughs] That’s amazing.

I said, “Oh, a few things, yeah.” And he went, “Great! Well, good luck with your career.” And honestly, I think he only thought I was the guy from an Eminem video, which I think is brilliant. 

[laughs] I love that.

So when you first signed on for “Lord of the Rings” you could’ve never predicted what it would lead to.

No. Even Pete Jackson couldn’t predict. I remember him saying when we were doing principal photography: “Listen, there’s a strong chance this could go straight to DVD. We don’t know how it’s going to be received. We don’t know how New Line will like the final product.” Of course, we’re excited and we want to do the best job we can. I think he was laying it all on the table: “If this becomes a straight-to-DVD trilogy, at least I told you beforehand.”

Right.

“Star Trek” and “Star Wars” created this fandom phenomenon. But the “Lord of the Rings” fandom is a beast all its own. It’s classical literature — that’s where that fandom comes from. Fans from “Star Wars” and ”Star Trek” are obviously formidable — but they don’t come from a classic piece of literature which is consistently talked about as being one of the greatest books of all time. So that fandom is very much in its own lane.

That’s true. So what’s it like for you to go to events like this? It must be overwhelming.

I don’t want to say you get used to it, but you become accustomed — people with “Lord of the Rings” tattoos, Merry tattoos, people with tattoos of me. Not me as Merry, but me: Dom. 

Some people get emotional, want to tell you about what’s happened in their lives because of “Lord of the Rings” — they created their social group, or that was the film they watched with a parent before they passed, or the last thing they watched with their grandfather. So you’re just there to listen and hopefully continue to help them on their journey. If people want to come in costume — for any fandom — it’s a safe space.

It does mean so much to so many. Steven Colbert is a huge fan. What’s going on with “Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past,” the movie he’s co-writing. Are you in it? Is there a timeline? 

All I know is Stephen Colbert’s writing a script, which we’re obviously all very excited to read. But at this point, that’s all I know. Fingers crossed, we’ll get a chance relatively soon to read it. I’m looking forward to it. I’m not sure when his deadline is, to be honest. I’m not even sure if he has one. He’s Stephen Colbert. He does what he wants.

True. I love how hardcore of a fan he is. 

He’s a hardcore fan. I think with the kind of life Colbert has had in the last 18 months of the talk show — which was quite tumultuous, a little bit of a pressure-cooker for Stephen — I think he thought, ”What do I want to do next? I want to go to the place that feels the safest to me, a place that feels secure, and where I’m surrounded by people I know and love and trust. I’m going to go to Middle Earth.”

That makes sense. It was funny a few years back, when you tried to stump him on “Lord of the Rings” trivia.

That was super fun. I actually had a much harder question for him, but I was like, “I don’t want Stephen to not answer two questions on his talk show. Let’s give him one that he can answer, and then we’ll give him a harder one after that.”

[laughs] So I want to ask about ”Lost”— I loved those early seasons. What did you think of Charlie’s arc? I read that you thought he hit a stalemate, before he died in the season 3 finale.

I just thought that he became the babysitter. He was either looking after the baby, or didn’t know where the baby was, or he was on drugs, or he wasn’t on drugs — it just became rote and cyclical. 

Then they actually gave him a storyline that actually made sense and had some dynamic edge to it, and it ended with Charlie leaving the show — but on a show like that, you want a good exit.  So many of those characters just leave the show fading away, and you don’t remember how they left. But I’d argue that most fans remember how Charlie left.

What are your thoughts on the finale?

I don’t watch stuff I do. I enjoy working on things — when I watch it, I don’t enjoy watching it as much as I did working on it. 

You’ve never seen “Lord of the Rings”?

I’ve seen it because I’ve had to go to screenings and sit through it — but I remember it more fondly in my mind than I do when I watch it.

I can see that. Were you a fan of the books as a kid?

Oh yeah. The books were a big deal in my family. They were the most influential books for my dad, so we were aware of Gandalf and Bilbo when we were little kids. Then when I was 14, 15, my dad was like, “Okay, you’re probably old enough to understand ‘Lord of the Rings.’”

In fact, I had a poster of “Lord of the Rings” in my bedroom. I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid. I remember thinking, when I was 16, 17, looking at this poster, thinking, “Wow, if they ever make ‘Lord of the Rings’ as a film, that would be the best film to be involved in.” And then, like five or six years later, I was doing it.

So you grew up in Manchester, England. You said you wanted to be an actor since you were around 8. What sparked that? 

I saw “Star Wars,” and then a couple of weeks after, I saw “Indiana Jones” [and] I realized that Han Solo was also Indiana Jones. I couldn’t understand it. I remember my dad explaining: Well, [Harrison Ford’s] an actor, so he puts on a different costume and plays a different character.” And I thought, “Oh, I want to do that.”

That’s awesome, and it’s funny that you ended up in “Star Wars” too [in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), as Beaumont].

I know! It’s wild. I would’ve done it for free, just to be on set with R2-D2 and Chewbacca. My first day, I was doing scenes with Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Daisy [Ridley] and Chewbacca and R2, and I remember thinking, “Wow, this is exactly what I wanted to do when I was 8 years old.” It was fantastic.

I love that. And what was it like working with Ian McKellen?

Oh Ian’s great. He became the elderly uncle to all of us on that show, because he’s such a cool guy, even though he’s a little bit older than us. And he’s a great teacher. The way he works, for a young actor to witness, is really inspirational. And he became the most adored, most well-loved person in the films because [Gandalf]  is such a sympathetic character.

And you’re also in “The Librarians: The Next Chapter.”

Yeah, it just premiered on TNT [Sunday]. I play the mythological wizard from the Arthurian legends, Merlin. It’s a modern take on Merlin. My character is trying to blend in, trying to modernize himself. If it was a traditional Merlin, I would’ve hit up Ian and been like, “Hey, Ian, how do I play a classic wizard?” 

Event info, tickets and schedule here. Interview has been edited and condensed.

 Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1.

Lauren Daley

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.

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