Movie sets are strange places. Thousands of objects pass through wardrobe and props departments during a single shoot, and not everything makes it back onto the inventory sheet. Sometimes a ring slips into a pocket, a sword ends up in the trunk of a car, or a costume piece simply never gets returned because nobody thought to ask for it back. What follows are nine real, documented cases where actors walked away from a production with something they were not necessarily supposed to keep. Some of these stories came out in interviews years later. Others were confessed almost proudly, as if the actor knew they had gotten away with something small but memorable.
1. Ian McKellen and the keys to Bag End
During the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Ian McKellen developed something of a reputation for walking off with pieces of Middle-earth. He played the role of Gandalf the wizard and continued a decades-long tradition of absconding with props from his movies, and in addition to Gandalf’s sword, McKellen also permanently borrowed the keys to Bag End, the home of Bilbo Baggins.
What makes this one particularly good is that director Peter Jackson actually noticed the keys were gone. Director Peter Jackson was aware that the keys had been taken but did not know the identity of the culprit, and McKellen worked hard to keep it a secret and maintain his streak of stealing from every job he takes. The keys still sit somewhere in his home today, a quiet trophy from one of the biggest film trilogies ever made.
2. Mark Hamill’s growing Star Wars collection
Few actors have been as open, or as unapologetic, about their prop habit as Mark Hamill. Along with the Stormtrooper helmet he used as a disguise in the original Star Wars, the Luke Skywalker actor also owns C-3PO’s hands and feet, a rubber frog that was eaten by Jabba, and the cap of a Death Star employee.
The strange part is that this list is only what he has publicly admitted to. Those are only the props that he’s told fans about, and at this point, Hamill’s house is probably more like a Star Wars museum than a home. For an actor who has spent nearly five decades tied to one galaxy far, far away, it seems fitting that pieces of it followed him home.
3. Daniel Radcliffe’s floppy prosthetic arm
After eight Harry Potter films, Daniel Radcliffe left the production with more than just memories. After filming eight Harry Potter films, Daniel Radcliffe admits he acquired a lot of things from the set, and as for the weirdest item, Daniel says it’s probably the prosthetic arm that was used for the scene in Chamber of Secrets when Harry loses all the bones in his arm.
He has described the object with a mix of fondness and mild embarrassment. He mentioned he has a bunch of stuff from Potter, including a prosthetic arm that was molded for him for the bone loss scene, so he has a big floppy arm sitting in his attic. It is not exactly a display piece, but it is a physical reminder of one of the film series’ most memorable moments of body horror comedy.
4. Jennifer Lawrence’s Hunger Games leathers
When the Hunger Games franchise wrapped, several cast members quietly helped themselves to pieces of Panem. After the final film of the Hunger Games franchise Mockingjay: Part 2 was released, a few of the main actors, including Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, admitted to taking a few props home.
Lawrence in particular walked away with Katniss’s signature look. Katniss herself, Jennifer Lawrence, took home some of the leather outfits. By her own account the pieces have not seen much use since. After four films, Jennifer Lawrence grabbed Katniss’s signature leather jacket and leather boots, telling E! that they’re just hanging in her closet and she doesn’t know what she’s going to do with them.
5. Chris Hemsworth’s multiple Mjolnirs
Few actors have accumulated quite as much superhero hardware as Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth has famously admitted to keeping several versions of Mjolnir, the hammer used by his character in the Thor and Avengers franchises, and he reportedly has about five or six of them scattered around his home.
One of them apparently lives in an unexpected spot. He reportedly has about five or six of them scattered around his home, including one kept in a bathroom. Technically, none of this hardware was ever his to keep. While the props are technically the property of Marvel Studios, Hemsworth took them without formal permission at the end of various productions. His wife has apparently made her feelings about the clutter known. His wife, Elsa Pataky, has publicly commented on the abundance of superhero weaponry taking up space in their house.
6. Emma Watson’s time turner
Among the smaller but more magical items to leave the Harry Potter set was Hermione Granger’s time turner. Emma Watson walked away with Hermione Granger’s time turner from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which allowed the intellectual Gryffindor to squeeze in more classes to her already packed schedule.
It is a small, delicate piece of jewelry compared to some of the swords and weapons on this list, but it carries just as much weight for fans of the series. The prop’s design, a golden hourglass on a chain, has become one of the most recognizable pieces of Harry Potter memorabilia outside the wands themselves. Watson keeping it feels less like theft and more like a natural extension of a character she played across an entire decade of her life.
7. Jamie Lee Curtis’s unexpected trophy
Not every kept prop is elegant or sentimental in an obvious way. After Everything Everywhere All At Once became a phenomenon, Jamie Lee Curtis revealed which prop she kept from the multiverse comedy drama, hilariously keeping the butt plug trophy, as it was gifted to her by the movie’s prop master.
The object itself became something of a symbol for the film’s absurdist, genre-bending sense of humor. Curtis has spoken about it with the same warmth she shows for the film’s more emotional themes, treating the strange prop as a genuine keepsake rather than a punchline she has grown tired of. It says something about the film’s spirit that one of its stars would happily display such an oddball object at home.
8. Kristen Stewart’s Twilight rings
The Twilight saga left its actors with plenty of jewelry, and Kristen Stewart apparently held onto a piece of it for personal reasons. Stewart had fonder memories on set than some of her co-stars, and even took some things home to remember it by, taking some of the jewelry her character wore to remember director Catherine Hardwicke and Robert Pattinson by, specifically mentioning the rings, which she expressed were very important to her.
Unlike some of the more comedic entries on this list, this one reads as genuinely sentimental. Stewart has rarely spoken extensively about her time on the franchise, so the small detail of holding onto a piece of jewelry tied to specific people rather than the character herself stands out. It is a reminder that not every kept prop is about the object’s fame, sometimes it is about who was standing nearby when it was worn.
9. Alexander Skarsgård’s Northman souvenir
Not every prop kept from a film is glamorous, and Alexander Skarsgård’s memento from The Northman is proof of that. When Alexander Skarsgård wrapped filming on The Northman, he walked away with a bizarre souvenir, saying he was given the bloody thong he wore while filming the nude fight scene at the end of the movie.
He has been candid about how uncomfortable the piece was to wear during the actual shoot. He described having a crew member put it on him and wear it all day with no easy way to use the bathroom, adding that it’s actually the only prop he’s ever kept from a movie. Out of everything he could have chosen from a brutal Viking epic, a strip of fabric from one uncomfortable day of filming became his lasting souvenir.
These nine stories share a common thread: the props that end up going home rarely seem to be chosen for their monetary value. A key, an arm, a hammer, a trophy, a thong. What connects them is the memory attached, not the price tag a studio auction might eventually put on a similar item. Sets are temporary, contracts end, and characters get left behind on the page, but apparently a surprising number of actors have decided that a small physical piece of that experience is worth quietly slipping into a suitcase before the wrap party ends.
