Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum gets an exciting new update

Andy Serkis might return to the scorched Middle-earth sooner than expected as The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum receives a positive update from Warner Bros. The upcoming movie will be directed and executive-produced by Serkis, and will also see him reprising his role as Gollum.

Serkis' new film will be set in the period between the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the recent Hobbit trilogy, which offered an expansive look into the world created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It will likely introduce fans to a bridge-film between both timelines to understand the mechanisms in play at large. Plot details have not been revealed so far, but the film will probably focus on Serkis' character.

For viewers hoping to step back into this world, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav provides an optimistic update. According to Collider, Zaslav referred to The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum as one of the "big tentpoles" on their radar, which also includes projects like Supergirl and The Batman, among others.

During a financial call, Zaslav said,

“We've got a great script on Lord of the Rings with Peter Jackson that we're moving forward on, and we'll be giving you more detail on that.”

Andy Serkis also weighed in on the current status of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

Expand Tweet

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum director Andy Serkis had a conversation with Collider in June, while promoting his animated Animal Farm film. In that discussion, he shared a few key details on where the film is heading, creatively, along with its filming and release status. Here's what he said,

“We're very early on in the process [for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum]. We've been talking about the film over the course of the last year. We’re about to start a period of prep in the next few months or so. We will be shooting in the early to mid-part of next year, I guess, and then it'll be as long as it takes to shoot, which — it's a sizable movie — all ready for a December 2027 release."

Serkis further added,

"I'm incredibly excited to go back and work with my friends and family in New Zealand and actually do something which is, I think, going to be surprising, and yet very much part of the lore and the feel of the trilogy. The sensibility of it will feel, I think, close to that, and yet we're investigating in greater depth the character formerly known as Smeagol, but mostly known as Gollum.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be the first project in this cinematic universe since the Hobbit trilogy wrapped up in 2014's The Battle of the Five Armies. It began two years ago with Elijah Wood playing Frodo Baggins and Martin Freeman playing Bilbo. Serkis starred in those films and the earlier trilogy's installments.

Peter Jackson directed all six films. He reportedly returns as a producer for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, written by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Arty Papageorgiou, and Phoebe Gittins, as per the IMDb credits.