Today, Warner Brothers announced their first Lord of the Rings adaption film at their quarterly earning meeting. In partnership with Embracer Group, the studio announced a slew of live-action movies were in development after the rights were sold back in 2022. The new films will not be a remake of Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, as the studio recognizes their cinematic achievements. Instead, they will be told in new stories set in Middle-Earth, all during the Third Age. The first film in development is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (title subject to change). It’s unknown if the film is taken from the point of view of Gollum only. However, originally, it was a tale of young Aragorn (who could be recast) searching for Gollum during the early parts of The Fellowship of the Ring. You can read a brief history & synopsis of “The Hunt for the Ring” from Unfinished Tales and The Appendices B over at Sweating to Mordor.
The film will star and be directed by original Gollum actor Andy Serkis (Venom 2, Mowgli). Serkis also served as a Unit 2 director on The Hobbit films. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens will all return to write and produce the film. Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou will also be helping after working on The War of the Rohirrim anime. Through New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers will produce the films with Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. It would be interesting if Jackson ever directs another Middle-Earth film or stays on as more of an architect of the upcoming movies. Helping at every production level but allowing another director to take their crack at Tolkien’s world. Ironically, an extremely well-done fan film based on this story was released online in 2009 before Jackson made the Hobbit films.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is slated to hit theaters sometime in 2026
