New Lord of the Rings Film Announced

Warner Bros. on their quarterly earnings call, has announced a new Lord of the Rings film to be released in 2026. The current title, subject to change, is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The film will be directed by and star Andy Serkis who orginiated the role in the Lord of the Rings films. Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou are writing the script. Walk and Boyens wrote the LOTR and Hobbit films, while Gittins and Papageorgiou wrote the script for animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim which set for release on December 13, 2024. Peter Jackson, Walsh and Boyens will be producers on the film. From Deadline:

Warner Bros. Motion Pictures heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, “For over two-decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision. We are honored they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”

Said Jackson, Walsh and Boyens: “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker – Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

And Serkis said, “Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”.

Details on the story were not provided. My guess is the film is set between The The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when Gollum was searching for Bilbo to recover his ring. Meanwhile Gandalf realized what the ring Frodo had could be and went searching for Gollum to verify. At the same time Sauron learned Gollum may have the ring or possess knowledge of its location and also sent minions to capture him. As we know from Fellowship of the Ring, Sauron found him first and that was how the Ringwraiths knew to go to the Shire and look for the Baggins.