{"id":76831,"date":"2026-04-15T01:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/cast-plot-everything-we-know\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T01:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:20:07","slug":"cast-plot-everything-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/cast-plot-everything-we-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Cast, Plot, Everything We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tEven after Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power<\/em>, there will be more of Middle Earth to explore, particularly through the lens of Gollum\u2019s perspective. Deadline unpacked where the franchise is heading with longtime collaborators Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to make more films based on J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s fantasy work and the world founded on Peter Jackson\u2019s original New Line trilogy of films, with one corresponding to each books.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe Gollum\/Sm\u00e9agol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sm\u00e9agol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic,\u201d Jackson told Deadline. \u201cI think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there\u2019s a little bit of both of them in all of us.\u00a0We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn\u2019t have time to cover in the earlier films. It\u2019s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAndy Serkis\u2018 Gollum, who was once a hobbit known as Sm\u00e9agol, catalyzed the plot after he killed his friend, who found Sauron\u2019s all-powerful ring in a lake and succumbed to the instrument\u2019s corruption. Gollum unintentionally saved the world when he bit the ring off of Frodo\u2019s invisible finger on Mount Doom in \u201cThe Return of the King.\u201d His excitement hat having achieved this feat caused him to lose balance and fall into the fiery explosion there, taking the weapon \u2014 and Sauron\u2019s consuming power \u2014 with him.<\/p>\n
\n\tRead on for everything we know about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tWho is creating The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tJackson, alongside Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, took care to arrive at focusing this next foray into the fantasy realm with Gollum at the center. Walsh and Boyens will write the screenplay along with\u00a0Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (who scripted the upcoming animated film\u00a0Lord of the Rings: The War of the\u00a0Rohirrim\u00a0<\/em>about the origins of Helm\u2019s Deep)<\/em>.\u00a0Jackson, Walsh and Boyens will produce the film, and the executive producers are Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium\u2019s Jonathan Cavendish.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tRELATED NEWS: Kate Winslet To Play Female Lead In Andy Serkis\u2019 \u2018LOTR: The Hunt For Gollum\u2019: Breaking Baz<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tWhat will Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum<\/em><\/strong> be about?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tThe story, much of it developed from Tolkien\u2019s footnotes, is set between\u00a0The Hobbit\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em>. The Hunt for Gollum\u00a0<\/em>follows Aragorn\u2019s perilous quest to capture Gollum before the creature can reveal the Ring\u2019s location to Sauron.<\/p>\n
\n\tIs Andy Serkis involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tYes, Serkis will not only reprise his role as Gollum (formerly Sm\u00e9agol), but he will direct the movie as well.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was absolutely floored,\u201d Serkis told Deadline of the moment he got the call to direct. \u201cThey have done this to me before, and this had the same effect as when I got the call telling me I was going to direct second unit on\u00a0The Hobbit<\/em>. I was preparing to shoot my first independent film, something with three actors in two locations. And then it was just like, do you want to come direct the second unit on the biggest films in the world? I\u2019m very honored that they\u2019ve asked me to come back. I really am. I love them as filmmakers because they are honest. They always go for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe actor mentioned how the character has stuck with him ever since the original trilogy. He also hinted at how motion capture technology has improved in the two decades since he took on the role of Sm\u00e9agol, and even after he appeared as Caesar in Matt Reeves\u2019 Planet of the Apes <\/em>trilogy. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAt that time, the motion capture technology back then was pretty much restricted to interior sets and it was just motion capture. Throughout the course of the evolution of the technology through the\u00a0Apes<\/em>\u00a0movies, it changed,\u201d Serkis said. \u201cFor instance, we were able to untether it from a volume and allow real performance capture, because in those three films, the first three films, the facial was all animated, copying my facial expressions. But it wasn\u2019t driven by a performance capture, the delicacy and the nuance that was then able to be caught using head-mounted cameras. During the\u00a0Apes\u00a0<\/em>movies is when the real experimentation began with going outdoors and shooting on location. And those are the big movies. And obviously Jim Cameron was working on his\u00a0Avatar\u00a0<\/em>movies alongside Weta. They were pushing the nuances of facial performance with facial capture as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBoyens teased that Serkis will have his own \u201cinteresting\u201d take on the story.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe don\u2019t want this film to be is just the fourth film in the trilogy. This film has to work in its own way. And that\u2019s our job,\u201d she told Deadline. \u201cThat\u2019s what we are going to have to be able to do. I know there\u2019s plenty of people out there who will be like, oh no, why are they doing this? Why are they going back in? Well, that\u2019s our job, to prove why we think that it\u2019s a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWill other Lord of the Rings <\/em>or The Hobbit <\/em>cast return to reprise their roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tSerkis couldn\u2019t say with any certainty, but this is a hope.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t want to commit anything right now. I mean, because it\u2019s so raw and so raw and wriggling, and we are just literally having very early state script discussions and ideas of exactly where and how we\u2019re going to drop anchor with the character and his journey and how he is or comes into contact with other characters, and the characters that we know and don\u2019t know,\u201d Serkis told Deadline. \u201cI would hate to say anything that\u2019s going to commit us at this point, because it\u2019s literally all up for grabs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen returning as Frodo and Gandalf. Lee Pace is also back as Thranduil. <\/p>\n
\n\tWho else will be in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tAt April\u2019s Cinemacon 2026, it was revealed that Jamie Dornan will take up the mantle of Strider, the alias that Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen in the original films) uses, and Leo Woodall will portray Halvard.<\/p>\n
\n\tRELATED: \u2018The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum\u2019: Jamie Dornan And Leo Woodall Join Film \u2013 CinemaCon<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tDeadline had previously reported that Kate Winslet will be joining the film in the role of Marigol.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhy Gollum?<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cGollum\u2019s story is one of the most compelling to us in terms of a character that we couldn\u2019t go as deeply into as we wanted to before, which sounds strange when you say that, given how familiar he is to everybody,\u201d said. \u201cGollum\u2019s life span takes place in such an interesting period of Middle-earth. When the question was first asked, this was the first story we thought of. Because I can tell you, and people might not believe this, but we had zero expectations of going back to this. It wasn\u2019t something we were looking to do, particularly. So when the question was asked, it was, what would draw you back? And it was about working with the people we we\u2019re working with. It was also about the chance to work with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at the studio. Alan Horn is now back at the studio. It just felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat else has Andy Serkis worked on?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tSerkis has directed four films including 2017\u2019s Breathe<\/em>, 2018\u2019s The Ruins of Empires<\/em> and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle <\/em>as well as 2021\u2019s Venom: Let There Be Carnage<\/em>. He appeared as Kino Loy in Andor<\/em>, Supreme Leader Snoke in two\u00a0Star Wars<\/em>\u00a0films and Alfred Pennyworth in <\/em>2022\u2019s The Batman<\/em>. He portrayed Ulysses Klaue in Black Panther<\/em> and voiced the character in Marvel\u2019s What If\u2026?<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tHe\u2019s wrapped production on his first animated feature of George Orwell\u2019s Animal Farm<\/em> penned by Nicholas Stoller. He served as Visual Effects Motion Capture EP on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3<\/em>. He will direct Nick Hornby\u2019s adaptation of The Giant\u2019s House<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n\tTwo upcoming projects in which he will star are the stage production Ulster American<\/em> alongside Woody Harrelson and Derry Girls<\/em> star Louisa Harland as well as the film The Man With The Miraculous Hands<\/em> again alongside Harrelson.<\/p>\n
\n\tSerkis\u2019 production company The Imaginarium is developing The Wicker Man <\/em>television series as well as The Monster Tale<\/em> alongside South Korea\u2019s Climax Studio.<\/p>\n
\n\tWill there be more Lord of the Rings<\/em> films?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\tYes! Stephen Colbert, after his last time hosting The Late Show<\/em> will adapt the tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past<\/em> with Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee. The trio will join forces with the wizards behind the New Line franchise: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Boyens.<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to Colbert, the film will be based on \u201cFogs on the Barrow-downs,\u201d the eighth chapter of\u00a0The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em>, where Hobbits are trapped by a Barrow-wight in an unnatural fog. The story also includes a fan favorite character omitted from the previous films, Tom Bombadil. The movie will be derived from chapters three through eight of Tolkien\u2019s landmark book.<\/p>\n
\n\tRELATED: Stephen Colbert Set To Write Next \u2018Lord Of The Rings\u2019 Movie After \u2018The Hunt For Gollum\u2019 Based On \u201cFog On The Barrow-Downs\u201d Chapter<\/strong><\/p>\n
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