Warner Bros. told us this was coming and here we are, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum movie has been announced for 2026 release. The movie will be directed by, and star Andy Serkis, as of course Gollum. Peter Jackson is onboard as an exec producer and there are more from the LOTR team back as you can see below. The current title is just a working title by the way and therefore could change before release.
As per Deadline:
‘The first of two new LOTR films at Warner — working title Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum — will be directed by and star Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle), with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens set to write the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The film will be executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish.’
‘Peter Jackson will produce along with Walsh and Boyens, WBD said in a release that fleshed out comments on the project by WBD CEO David Zaslav earlier today.’
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‘Said Jackson, Walsh and Boyens: “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker – Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”’
‘And Serkis said — “Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”.’
Ready For Another Adventure?
So, what will this be about?
One would guess that this will revolve around the hunts for Gollum conducted by Gandalf and mostly Aragorn. This takes place off-screen in the movies. It also makes it seems as though only weeks or months have passed. Whereas, in the books, it was 17 years that passed between Gandalf telling Frodo to ‘keep it secret, keep it safe’, and him turning back up with more information. In the movies it seems like a few weeks at most. The hunt for Gollum occurred during this time. Gollum was actually held prisoner by Sauron for a long time and Gandalf never thought he’d get out.
Gandalf actually tells us (audience) about it when he does come back to see Frodo. He tells how he looked for the creature Gollum everywhere, but the Enemy found him first. Then Gandalf relates what Gollum told Sauron of, which indicates he did in fact capture him. During this time, whilst Gandalf was doing other research, he had Aragorn full on hunting Gollum. Once Aragorn had him, he took him to Gandalf who interrogated Gollum to get the information he needed.
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If that is indeed the story being told, then I’m not that excited about it. For a start, for continuity’s sake you’d surely have to bring back McKellen and Mortenson. Following Gollum as he skulks around gobbling things on his way to Mordor and back is hardly engaging. Another criticism I have is that like The Rings of Power they are not really going to be pulling from anything that Tolkien actually wrote. Secondly, this won’t even feel like an addition to the LOTR movies. Or at least, making it fit will take a bit of work. You’d have to stop Fellowship of the Ring after Gandalf is seen finding out about the Ring. Then, watch this new movie, before restarting Fellowship from the next scene. Hardly conducive to me extending the movies easily is it?
I just see a cash grab. WBD need cash, this is one of their IP’s, so let’s milk it. Get some creatives who worked on it before, give them a budget and go make more of those Hobbit movies. (Ahem, remember how those Hobbit movies actually went? Rubbish.) I hope those involved treat it with more respect and it’s a good film. However, this movie was not approved for artistic reasons, lets not kid ourselves.
What do you think as The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum movie has been announced for 2026 release? Thoughts below as always.
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