The Lord of the Rings franchise is aiming to re-establish itself as a major theatrical player in 2027, and is bringing back some familiar faces to help do it. The Middle-earth saga dominated at the box office in the first half of the 2000s, and again in the 2010s. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy averaged $987 million at the box office, was critically acclaimed, and won a slew of awards, including a record-equalling 11 Oscars for Return of the King. The Hobbit didn’t reach the same level of praise, but was still a smash hit, with those three movies averaging $979m.
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Things have been more mixed in the 2020s, however. The franchise went streaming, with Amazon placing a $1 billion bet on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power that hasn’t fully paid off, with the show proving somewhat divisive. It also saw a new big-screen adventure, the anime The War of the Rohirrim, but it flopped with just $20.7m at the box office and a rotten 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. So now, perhaps inevitably, it’s going back to the original trilogy with The Hunt for Gollum. The story will focus on the search for the eponymous character during The Fellowship of the Ring‘s timeline, with several characters set to appear.
4) Gollum
Of course, Gollum is back for the movie that carries his name – and Andy Serkis is back too, in an even bigger capacity. Not only will he once again give the motion-capture performance for the character, he’s also set to direct the movie. The film will be told from Gollum’s perspective, so there’s no one better placed to deliver that story than the person who brought him to life so brilliantly all those years ago.
Although Gollum no longer has the One Ring by this point, he does have vital information regarding it, especially its whereabouts. That prompts the forces of good and evil to search – or hunt – Middle-earth, trying to find him and learn what he knows. With him essentially the protagonist of the movie and things being told from his POV, it’ll mean that not only are we likely to see some familiar foes (appearances from the likes of Sauron, Saruman, and the Witch-King have not been confirmed, but are plausible in some way), but some heroes could be seen as villains through his eyes.
3) Gandalf
The story that will be told in The Hunt of Gollum is only briefly mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books, but Gandalf is, unsurprisingly, at the very center of it alongside the creature formerly known as Sméagol. It’s the then-still-grey wizard who possesses the most knowledge about Gollum and understands his importance, and just how dangerous he could be if the dark forces at play were to find him first. Thus, he’ll be the one to command the search for him, while he is also away from the Shire conducting his own research into the One Ring.
Ian McKellen confirmed Gandalf will be in The Hunt for Gollum, but stopped short of saying whether he’ll actually be reprising the role or not. Although it’s been over 20 years since Fellowship was released, you’d have to expect (and certainly hope) he will be. He was the perfect casting for the character then, and there’s still no one better-placed to play him now, especially with the actor open to coming back.
2) Aragorn
Another original cast member who may return for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is Viggo Mortensen. The actor has addressed a potential return before, saying it would depend on the script and if it makes sense for his character. However, with Serkis directing, original creatives Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh producing (with the latter two on co-writing duties as well), and the likelihood of other actors coming back, it would be surprising if Mortensen weren’t involved.
Aragorn is a key part of the story, which is where the confirmation of his involvement comes from: there’s no actual hunt for Gollum without him, as he’s the person Gandalf tasks with finding the creature. Suffice to say, Aragorn and Gandalf should be the movie’s most important characters, after Gollum himself, and it could be fascinating to see them from a very different POV.
Before we get to #1, here are some unconfirmed Lord of the Rings characters who could appear in The Hunt for Gollum:
- Legolas
- Sauron
- Saruman
- The Witch-King
- Galadriel
- Elrond
- Thranduil
1) Frodo
As well as Gandalf’s presence, McKellen also made a more surprising reveal: that Frodo will be in the movie as well. Unlike Aragorn and Gandalf, the hobbit is not directly involved in The Hunt for Gollum‘s main story, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have a small role. The rough timeline will be from Bilbo Baggins’ party, after which the search truly begins, to Gandalf’s eventual return to the Shire some time later. It’s possible Frodo will simply be included as a framing device to set up and/or close out the narrative, giving audiences greater context as to where things are in the wider story.
That itself could mean changing The Fellowship of the Ring movie timeline, though. In the book, there are actually 17 years that pass between the two events, a substantial amount of time, although Frodo doesn’t age due to the effects of the One Ring. In the movie, however, while it’s never explicitly stated on screen, it’s seemingly only a few months. If the movie is using Frodo as a narrative device of some sort, then it seems likely it’ll have to align with one or the other, and that could mean retconning Fellowship to have been 17 years. Either way, though it’s not confirmed if Elijah Wood will be back, it seems we will be returning to the Shire and seeing Frodo once again.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is slated for release on December 17th, 2027.
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