By Recently came the announcement of “The Hunt for Gollum,” a film which will see a return of Middle-Earth on the big screen as Warners dives back into Tolkien mythology.
While the film was revealed to be in development a while back, the title and confirmation of those involved was what came forward recently. Andy Serkis will both star in and direct, and the original ‘Rings’ trilogy team of director Peter Jackson along with writer/producers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are also onboard.
Speaking with Deadline this week, Jackson confirms the film will explore the character’s backstory not seen in the movies and “delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films”.
Does that mean we’ll see some cameos from some familiar faces? Jackson says: “It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”
In terms of involvement, it’s confirmed that Walsh and Boyens will write the screenplay alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. The latter two scripted the upcoming animated film “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” which itself serves as an origin tale of the Helm’s Deep fortress.
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens will produce the film and filming will take place in New Zealand and utilise Jackson’s WETA production, postproduction and VFX facilities.
Boyens says this will be very much Serkis’ take on the material and “what we don’t want this film to be is just the fourth film in the trilogy. This film has to work in its own way.”
Serkis advises things are “really in the nascent stages” so many questions can’t be answered just yet. He adds: “we are just literally having very early state script discussions and ideas of exactly where and how we’re going to drop anchor with the character and his journey and how he is or comes into contact with other characters.”
“The Hunt for Gollum” is targeting a 2026 release.
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