Core Cast for The Hunt for Gollum Announced

As part of their CinemaCon presentation, Warner Bros. announced the core cast for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. CinemaCon is an annual convention for theater owners where the movie studios show them their plans for the next year.

Returning cast members include Andy Serkis reprising Gollum/Smeagol, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Lee Pace as Thranduil and Elijah Woods as Frodo. New cast members to the franchise are Jamie Dorman (The Fall, Fifty Shades of Grey) as Strider aka Aragorn, Leo Woodall (Nuremberg, The White Lotus) as Halvard, and Kate Winslet (Titanic) as Marigol.

The movie more or less will be set in between The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring films so re-casting was necessary as Viggo Mortensen at 67 playing his then 42 year old self would be difficult in body regardless of how much the mind might be willing, especially for a role that tends to participate heavily in action scenes. The characters of Halvard and Marigol seemed to be made up specifically for the movie but could be inspired from characters in the Appendices. 

Aragorn To Be Recast for Hunt for Gollum

The Hunt for Gollum director Andy Serkis has confirmed that Aragorn will be recast for the movie. Viggo Mortensen will not be returning. Serkis told ScreenRant "I don't know what's out there at the moment, but I know there's a lot of speculation, but let's just say we are recasting the role and we are on the way to finding someone."

My guess is the decision is for practical reasons as the time setting for the film is between the two Lord of the Ring trilogies and kind of in between minutes of Fellowship of the Ring. Mortensen is now 67 so playing Aragorn as he looked then would be a bit of a challenge with the passage of 25 years. Makeup can only do so much. They could use de-aging technology but it still has uncanny valley issues and suspect the character is in the film a lot so would also blow up the budget. I am curious if they offered Viggo a chance to return and he declined..

Kate Winslet Joins The Hunt For Gollum

Things have been quiet news wise for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum but that may change as the film is heading forwards a production start in New Zealand for the summer.

Deadline is reporting that Kate Winslet has signed on to be the female lead in the movie. No other details about the role were provided. The filming is expected to take place from May to October with actress and her family enjoying New Zealand for the duration. She will join confirmed cast members Elijah Woods (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and Hunt for Gollum director Andy Serkis (Gollum).

The film is produced by Peter Jackson who gave Winslet her big break with his movie Heavenly Creatures in 1994. Lord of the Rings writers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh also co-write the script with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. 

The story bridges the gap early in The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf confronted Bilbo about the ring and gave it to Frodo before leaving to perform research and his return when he was convinced it was the One Ring and needed Frodo to help him verify in the fire. Movie wise, that gap was about five minutes but book wise it was nearly 20 years. I am sure the movie do the same tricks the trilogy did for the passage of time but shows there is a lot of story they can tell, very little of which of which is in any of Middle-Earth books.

Wood, McKellen Returning for The Hunt for Gollum

Sir Ian McKellen let it be known during a fan event that he along with Elijah Wood are returning as Gandalf and Frodo for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The movie will directed by Andy Serkis who will also play Gollum. The current goal is a December 17, 2027 release date which puts the movie against Avengers: Secret Wars so likely one of them is moving. 

“I hear there’s going to be another movie set in Middle-earth, and it’s going to start filming in May. It’s going to be directed by Gollum, and it’s all about Gollum,” he told the For The Love Of Fantasy event, per a video.

“I’ll tell you two secrets about the casting: There’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s a character in the movie called Gandalf,” he continued, knowingly adding: “Apart from that, my lips are sealed.”

Exactly how much they are in the film remains to be seen. In the Fellowship of the Ring movie, there the early scene where Gandalf confronts Bilbo about the ring, suspicious of what it actually was. In what we now know was tremendous will power, Bilbo leaves the ring behind to go on another adventure. Meanwhile Frodo is told he inherited Bags End, told to keep the ring safe and Gandalf goes off to find more information. This is followed by a moment when hear Gollum speak of the "Shire!" and "Baggins" sending the Ringwraiths towards Hobbiton. Then there is a scene of Gandalf at Minas Tirith finding enough information to confirm his suspicions on the ring. The film then quickly cuts to Gandalf returning to Bags End and using fire to verify what it is.

How much time passed between Gandalf leaving ring in Frodo's care and then coming back to verify it with Frodo? The film does not tell you. Could have been days, could have been years. The novel tells you - 19 years. Then there is the time between Gollum losing the ring (seen in The Hobbit films) and escaping the Ringwraiths to track the ring down himself. That was 70 years. 

Material wise there really isn't that much information in the novels about what Gollum did during those 70 years of searching besides get captured a few times, once by Aragorn as part of Gandalf's information hunt. Frodo's part in events during that time is unknown but its assumed chilling at home while Gandalf was mostly traveling all over Middle-Earth collecting nuggets of information about the ring. All this is to say, it doesn't seem likely the two characters will have large roles in the film as their part in the hunt was either non-existent (Frodo) or guy getting updates while doing other things (Gandalf). Aragorn could have a large part depending on how the story is told. Much like the trilogy, the start of the Fellowship to defeat of Sauron was around 13 month odyssey according to the books, time will be compressed to make it better fit continuity of the films.

The Hunt for Gollum Release Moved to December 17, 2027

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is getting bumped a year from its preliminary release plan. The original release plan was to aim for December 2026 but according to director Andy Serkis, its now been moved to December 17, 2027.

He told The Direct, "We are right at the beginning of the writing process. We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date."

Now we know why updates on this movie have been light. Hard to plan specifics when don't have a script to work from. The rumored goal is to bring actors back from the Lord of the Rings films where appropriate for the story but who knows if that will be possible in a year or so from now. 

Update: Date finally became official. The Hunt for Gollum is aiming for a December 17, 2027 release date. 

Viggo Mortensen Wanted for The Hunt for Gollum

It seems another The Lord of the Rings trilogy actor has a chance to return to Middle-Earth. Philippa Boyens, writer and producer on the upcoming film, tells The Playlist that they want Viggo Mortensen to return as Aragorn. Andy Serkis is returning to play Gollum and also direct the film. Wanting and getting are two different things however. From Boyens:

“Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage. I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo.”

“I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using A.I. [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is. And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.”

“I suspect if he decides he doesn’t want to do it we would still want him to be heavily involved, like how do we hand this character off. But literally that decision is several, several months away. He’s got to read the script first and that’s exactly what I’m going to be working on when I get out of this interview [laughs].”

Based on the story as currently described, it would take place between the time Gandalf became suspicious of the ring, sending Frodo to Rivendell and placing it in an envelope for Frodo to keep. When Gandalf returned, he had Frodo throw it in the fireplace with words for the One Ring appearing. In the movie, no indication of time passing was really shown but in the books that time frame was actually 17 years. Most of the hunt was done by Gandalf, Aragorn and minions of Sauron who ultimately captured Gollum first.

Hunt for Gollum to Be One Film

For awhile now there was a rumor that The Hunt for Gollum film that is currently in pre-production with Andy Serkis directing would be two films. That was never officially confirmed. In an interview with Empire, Gollum writer Philippa Boyens verified it would be one movie saying "I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! 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. We’re playing around with a number of ideas, but most of those ideas do include Gandalf. So Gandalf would potentially return for two live-action films.” She did not comment on what this other film could be.

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.