The Goblin King could have graduated to Gandalf.

Dominic Monaghan, aka Merry the hobbit, has confirmed the long-swirling rumour that David Bowie auditioned for a part in Lord of the Rings.

“I was at the Hubbard’s, which is a pretty notorious casting agency office in London, doing an audition for Lord of the Rings, he recalled to Huffington Post.

“When it ended I went over and talked to John Hubbard, who was running the audition, and he said, ‘Hey, it went really well. You should wait around for 5 or 10 mins. We’ll give you some feedback’.

“I thought, ‘Oh, OK, cool, and I sat in the reception office. As I was reading a magazine waiting, David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in. And I’m assuming he read for Gandalf. I can’t think of anything else he would’ve read for. He may have read for something else, but I’m a huge David Bowie fan, and I was lucky enough to know his son now so just seeing him in person was pretty special to me.”

Bowie appeared in over 20 films throughout his career, including a memorable turn as the Goblin King in Labyrinth. Not much of a leap to the bearded white wizard of Middle Earth then, but we did alright with Ian McKellen.

Last week it was revealed that Bowie had planned a set of anthologies to be released after his death.