A Major Detail in Fellowship of the Ring Is Why the New Lord of the Rings Movie Make Sense

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the gold standard for a book adaptation. It condenses well over one thousand pages of material into just under ten hours without missing a beat. However, The Lord of the Rings is a victim of its own success because, like Harry Potter after it, Warner Bros. couldn’t leave well enough alone and greenlit spinoff movies. The Hobbit trilogy can’t hold a candle to the original films, despite Jackson returning to the fold. The big problem with The Hobbit movies is that they try to expand a relatively short story into a massive adventure without taking the necessary steps to make it work.

All these years later, it appears that Warner Bros. is preparing to make the same mistake by developing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a movie set in the middle of the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. However, the first film in the franchise hides a major detail that explains the need for another spinoff.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring‘s Timeline Is a Little Confusing

After providing some backstory about the One Ring, The Fellowship of the Ring turns its attention to the Shire. Bilbo Baggins, who goes on the adventure with Gandalf and the Dwarves in The Hobbit movies, is turning 111, and his wizard pal is coming to town to join the festivities. Everything’s going great until Bilbo turns invisible during his party before leaving to live with the Elves. Gandalf grows suspicious of Bilbo’s party trick and learns about the ring that the Hobbit leaves to his nephew, Frodo. Knowing that there are plenty of dangerous pieces of jewelry in Middle-earth, Gandalf instructs Frodo to keep the ring safe and heads out to learn more about it.

It’s at this point that things get strange. In The Lord of the Rings books, seventeen years pass between Gandalf leaving and returning to the Shire. Just like in the movie, he studies texts and tries to figure out whether Bilbo’s ring is, in fact, the One Ring that Sauron is looking for. The movie makes Gandalf’s journey feel a lot shorter, but it’s still obvious that some period of time has passed, which is where The Hunt for Gollum comes in.

[RELATED – 7 The Lord of the Rings Movie Moments Better Than the Books]

The Hunt for Gollum‘s Story Was There the Whole Time

In addition to hitting the books, Gandalf instructs his friend, Aragorn, to hunt down Gollum, who was the last individual to have the ring before Bilbo. The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t reveal this fact outright, choosing to introduce Aragorn to the story after the Hobbits leave the Shire behind and need help against the Nazgûl. However, Aragorn doesn’t happen upon the Hobbits by chance; he’s clearly already part of the situation, and The Hunt for Gollum will expand on that.

Aragorn will likely be hot on Gollum’s trail when the movie kicks off. The creature isn’t in a very trusting mood, though, because the years haven’t been kind to him. After leaving the cave that he calls home to search for the ring after Bilbo takes it, Gollum runs into all kinds of trouble, and eventually, he ends up in the hands of Sauron in Mordor. The Dark Lord tortures him for information, but all he can get out of him is two words, “Baggins” and “Shire.” Sauron is knowledgeable, of course, but Middle-earth is vast, and he’s unable to put two and two together for a long time. The delay allows Gandalf to catch up and realize that he needs to go a few rounds with Gollum as well.

The Hunt for Gollum is sure to touch on all of those events and come up with some of its own. After all, as great as Aragorn is, watching him wander around Middle-earth for two hours looking for someone who has no interest in being found doesn’t scream critical hit. Fortunately, the movie’s story isn’t totally without merit, which may very well allow it to avoid the same fate as The Hobbit trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits theaters on December 17, 2027.

Do you remember Gandalf’s information-gathering journey in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring? Is the story exciting enough to deserve its own movie? Let us know in the comments below!