“The Lord of the Rings” Cast Pay Tribute to Costar Bernard Hill After His Death: We Lost a 'Family Member'

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and more actors spoke about their late costar on Sunday, May 5

The Lord of the Rings cast is remembering Bernard Hill.

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan spoke about their late costar — who died Sunday, May 5 at age 79 — while at an event at Comic Con Liverpool that same day.

BBC reported that Hill was scheduled to attend the event, but canceled the appearance before his death. He played King Théoden in 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003.

"So we lost a member of our family this morning, Bernard Hill passed, King Théoden," Astin, 53, said at the event, per BBC. "So we want to take a moment before we walk off the stage to honor him. We love him. He was intrepid, he was funny, he was gruff, he was irascible, he was beautiful."

Related: Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd Have LOTR Reunion: '3 Hobbits and an Elf'

Boyd, 55, who played Pippin in the fantasy franchise, told the crowd that he watched the trilogy with Monaghan, 47, and "I don't think anyone spoke Tolkien's words as great as Bernard did. The way he grounded those words in a realism."

"He would break my heart. He will be solely [SIC] missed," Boyd added.

Monaghan also paid tribute to Hill on Instagram on Sunday. "The Broken king has passed to the grey havens but he will always be remembered," he wrote in the caption of a photo of the late actor.

The Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker star continued his tribute in his Instagram Stories on Monday, May 6 seen by PEOPLE.

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"But Merry stood at the foot of the green mound, and he wept, and when the song was ended he arose and cried: 'Théoden King, Théoden King! Farewell! As a father you were to me, for a little while. Farewell!' Sleep well Bernard xo," text in the slide read.

Hill is survived by his son Gabriel and fiancée Alison, per a statement obtained by CNN. He's also known for playing Captian Smith in Titanic and for his role in 2002's The Scorpion King with Dwayne Johnson. Before his death, Hill was in five episodes of the BBC series The Responder in 2024.

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