Sean Astin says low Lord of the Rings salary forced him to sell house

Actor Sean Astin revealed that his compensation for playing Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was so modest that he had to sell his home after the films were released. In a July 2025 interview with The Guardian, Astin said the three‑film deal paid only about $75,000, a figure he negotiated before the movies were shot simultaneously in New Zealand, leaving no chance to renegotiate when the series became a global blockbuster that grossed over €2.5 billion and won 17 Oscars.

Astin noted that the low pay was a result of the contracts signed for the three movies, a situation echoed by co‑star Elijah Wood, who explained that the actors could not renegotiate their terms. Despite the financial strain at the time, Astin said he is now “financially very comfortable” and, after being elected president of SAG‑AFTRA in September 2025, he expects better compensation for any future Middle‑earth projects.