Warner Bros. first revealed plans to move forward with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in 2024. Updates since have been sporadic, but if all goes to plan, this will be the first movie set in Middle-earth since 2014's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
Unrelated to Prime Video's pricey TV series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, this story plays out before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, expanding on Gollum's backstory and Aragorn's quest to find him and the One Ring.
Over the weekend, rumours surfaced that One Day, Prime Target, and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy star Leo Woodall is the top choice to play Aragorn, a role he'll take over from Viggo Mortensen.
Now, Daniel Richtman is reporting that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy is in talks to take on The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum's female lead. While that character hasn't been revealed, the prevailing theory right now is that it's Liv Tyler's Arwen.
Last month, an extended synopsis for the movie surfaced that claimed to reveal more about what to expect from The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
That billed the movie as bridging the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, "with new characters, returning heroes, and a deeply engaging origin story that resets the stage for, and changes everything you know about the legendary Lord of the Rings trilogy."
Before the Fellowship, one creature’s obsession holds the key to Middle-earth’s survival — or its demise. In The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, we meet young Smeagol — an outsider drawn to trinkets and mischief — long before The One Ring consumed him and began his tragic descent into the tortured, deceitful creature Gollum. With the ring lost and carried away by Bilbo Baggins, Gollum finds himself compelled to leave his cave in search of it.
Gandalf the Grey calls upon Aragorn, still known as the ranger Strider, to track the elusive creature whose knowledge of the whereabouts of the ring could tip the balance toward the Dark Lord Sauron. Set in the shadowed time between Bilbo’s birthday disappearance and the Fellowship’s formation, this perilous journey through Middle-earth’s darkest corners reveals untold truths, tests the resolve of its future king, and explores the fractured soul and backstory of Gollum, one of Tolkien’s most enigmatic characters.
Andy Serkis will direct The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and reprise his role as Gollum. Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, who wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy, are penning the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim).
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit director Peter Jackson, meanwhile, is producing the project. While Serkis and Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf the Grey) are the only cast members confirmed to return, the expectation is that an announcement revealing the full ensemble may be imminent before shooting starts later this year.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is set to be released in theaters on December 17, 2027.