A Lord of the Rings fan has shared his excitement after sitting next to cast members Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan as they enjoyed a reunion dinner.
In a tweet posted on 1 July, Cam Olsen revealed that he and his wife were out to dinner in Denver, Colorado, when they were seated next to Wood and Astin, who notably played hobbits Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee in the franchise.
However, despite admitting that he was “geeking out,” Olsen said in his tweet that he planned to “play it cool” and respect the actors’ space.
“My wife and I are out to dinner and we just were seated next to Elijah Wood and Sean Astin,” Olsen wrote. “I’m going to respect their space and not bother them, and playing it cool and all, but I’m definitely geeking out.”
Olsen’s plan to remain calm didn’t last long, however, as he revealed shortly after that hobbit actors Boyd and Monaghan had also showed up to the reunion dinner, and that he was “dying inside” over the sighting.
“MERRY AND PIPPEN ARE HERE!” he wrote, in reference to the characters played by the stars. “I will respect them and not bother them but I’m dying inside.”
As the night went on, Olsen continued to share updates about the reunion dinner in a Twitter thread, with the LOTR fan revealing that, at one point, the actors asked their waitress to take a photo of them, which Olsen said he “photobombed” because he “couldn’t resist.”
In a final update about the experience, Olsen shared a photo of the four stars seated in the restaurant and said that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to thank them for their “labour in bringing LOTR to life”.
“I couldn’t help it. On the way out I thanked them for their labour in bringing LOTR to life. They were so kind and I shook Sean Astin’s hand. I experienced the Shire tonight and loved it,” Olsen wrote.
Olsen’s Twitter thread documenting the experience, which has been liked more than 71,000 times, has been met with hundreds of equally excited replies from fellow LOTR fans.
“I totally would have screamed and then fainted! You are the luckiest,” one person wrote.
Another said: “This is an experience I would love. And I love how you handled it.”
Others shared their happiness that the stars still spend time together, with someone else writing: “Just knowing that they go out for dinner makes me happy.”
The experience was made even more special when Monaghan acknowledged Olsen in a photo of the group shared to Instagram, in which the LOTR fan could be seen leaning in to make it into the shot.
“More nights of stories that will have to die with the shire folk,” the actor captioned the photo. “Great food, great wine. Plots and schemes for a future involving hobbits. (Also epic photobomb thanks friend!)”
In a follow-up post on Twitter, Olsen shared a screenshot of Monaghan’s post, while expressing his surprise at the number of people who enjoyed his story.
“I’m surprised by the amount of people who read and enjoyed this story,” he wrote. “I don’t believe Tolkien could’ve chosen four better individuals to bring the Shire to life. Thanks for reading and I hope you were able to vicariously experience the joy of meeting this fellowship of hobbits.”
The post prompted renewed excitement and amusement from those who kept up with Olsen’s story, with many applauding his photobomb.
While reflecting on his decision to photobomb the shot while speaking with 9 News, Olsen said he decided to do it as he heard the actors counting down to take the picture, even though his wife encouraged him not to.
“I was hearing them countdown,” he recalled. “One, two, and at two I was like ‘Imma do it’ and that’s the moment where [my wife] is saying ‘don’t’ and I am turning around to smile at them.”
Monaghan later reposted the photo Olsen had taken of the group as well, with the actor posting it as a side-by-side photo alongside a still from Lord of the Rings, in which all of the hobbits could be seen dining together.
“Life continuing to imitate art,” he wrote.
