Hunt for Gollum Writer Clarifies Whether It’s Two Films, Teases More LOTR Movies

We now have confirmation of whether the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie The Hunt for Gollum is one or two movies. There was excitement when Warner Bros. revealed it was returning to Middle-earth for more Lord of the Rings, with Andy Serkis reprising his role as Gollum while also directing the first movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf, brought some confusion to the festivities when he spoke of The Hunt for Gollum possibly being split into two films. Fans have since wondered what to believe, but one of The Hunt for Gollum writers is setting the record straight.

“I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films!” The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum screenwriter Philippa Boyens told Empire. “That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being The Hunt For Gollum, the second one still to be confirmed.”

Boyens even explained why there might have been some confusion on McKellen’s part. It comes down to McKellen’s Gandalf being a core part of multiple The Lord of the Rings films, and not just The Hunt for Gollum.

“We’re playing around with a number of ideas, but most of those ideas do include Gandalf,” she said. “So Gandalf would potentially return for two live-action films.”

For those fans who may be disappointed a Gollum-centric movie isn’t taking up two films, Boyens reassures the fandom there will be a lot to appreciate. “It’s quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria,” Boyens explained. “It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”

Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are writing the screenplay for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish. Peter Jackson is producing with Walsh and Boyens.

Even though The Hunt for Gollum will only take up one movie, that shouldn’t be taken as a negative for fans. If there’s one thing The Lord of the Rings franchise is known for, it’s super-long runtimes. Many of the films max out around the three-hour mark, which is a long time to sit in a movie theater when you factor in bathroom breaks. So there shouldn’t be any worry that The Hunt for Gollum will run out of time to tell its story. Plus, we now know Peter Jackson and the team are hard at work developing more Lord of the Rings projects.

If you count The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video and the upcoming release of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime movie on December 13th, then LOTR fans are eating good.