Overview

• In a pre-taped message, the 86-year-old cited guidance from his medical advisers and said, "Better safe than sorry."
• The video was played for audiences at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 7.
• Co-stars Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden, along with director Steven Soderbergh, promoted the film in person and praised McKellen.
• McKellen did not share further health details, and there is no confirmed link between this travel restriction and his June 2024 onstage fall.
• He was hospitalized for three days after that 2024 accident and later described a chipped vertebra, a fractured wrist and shoulder pain.