Production is well underway for the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the new film in the fantasy franchise that has been poised to fill in a big gap in the story that Peter Jackson’s movies excised. As previously confirmed, the film will tell a story found in the appendices of Tolkien’s text, telling the story of Gandalf and Aragorn as they seek out Gollum. It’s worth noting that this sequel is actually something of a side story to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, taking place during the early parts of that movie. As such, familiar faces and characters will return.
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Fans already know that Andy Serkis will be back as the titular Gollum (while also stepping behind the camera as director), along with Ian McKellen as Gandalf and even Lee Pace as Thranduil from The Hobbit movies. New photos from the set of The Hunt for Gollum have arrived from Warner Bros. Pictures, though, including one that reveals yet another beloved character’s return, as the image shows Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins for the upcoming movie. In the image, Wood’s character is only seen from behind, but the clothes, hair, and the front door of Bag End are unmistakable. See it for yourself below!
Elijah Wood’s Lord of the Rings Return Revealed
Though Wood previously teased his involvement in the new film, comparing it to “getting the band back together,” he confirmed that his role in The Hunt for Gollum is “relatively small,” but he was nonetheless excited about it. To wit, fans are too, with comments writing about how beautiful the movie looks, how much they’re crying, and even quoting extensive lines of dialogue from Wood’s character.
It’s worth noting that because of the placement in the story in relation to the larger Lord of the Rings franchise, Wood’s return as Frodo puts him in a unique position, as he’ll be playing a version of the character that he only embodied for a very small percentage of filming with The Fellowship of the Ring. Fans may recall the moment in the first film when Gandalf leaves the Shire after suddenly having an inkling that Bilbo’s magic ring might actually be the One Ring.
On screen, this montage plays out over the course of just a few minutes, but in reality it’s almost two decades (17 years if you want to be specific). The key moment in the montage, though, comes near the end, when Gandalf teases that he “looked everywhere for the creature Gollum,” meaning that the entirety of the upcoming movie will be set during this one sequence from The Fellowship of the Ring.
To that end, it’s easy to see why Elijah Wood was tempering expectations about his involvement in the movie, since it seems likely he might only bookend the film itself. As noted, though, this carefree version of Frodo who only knows peace in The Shire and nothing of adventures across Middle-earth is a version that Wood previously only played for a fraction of The Lord of the Rings movies themselves, meaning that his return will be a pretty interesting one for him as a performer.
It’s worth noting that, given the time since the original The Lord of the Rings movies, one character’s return for the film will come with an all-new actor playing them, as actor Jamie Dornan will step into the role of Aragorn, taking over the role from Viggo Mortensen. There will also be two more high-profile newcomers set to arrive, with Kate Winslet as Marigol and Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren, an elf character who’s an original creation. We’ll see what other characters might appear and how it connects to the trilogy in a year’s time, as The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will release in theaters on December 17, 2027.
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