Warner: New "Lord of the Rings" film revolves around the hunt for Gollum

Warner has announced the first in a series of planned live-action adaptations of the "Lord of the Rings" series: "The Hunt for Gollum" will tell new stories in Middle-earth. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, will once again take on the role of the former hobbit and ring bearer.

Serkis will not only play Gollum, but will also direct the film, writes industry magazine Variety. Peter Jackson, director of the film trilogy, is to be involved as a producer. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are to write the screenplay - as they did for the popular trilogy.

According to Variety, the script for the film is still being written. Details about the story, other characters or actors are therefore not yet available. The name suggests that the film will tell the story of Gollum between the events of "The Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Ring", when both Sauron and Aragorn search for the former ring bearer. This story is already told in a fan film of the same name.

More films in the works

Warner announced in February 2023that new live-action films are to be made in The Lord of the Rings universe. Several new titles were in preparation at the time. The new films will be produced by Warner's production company New Line Cinema, which was already responsible for Warner's previous Lord of the Rings films.

The development of the anime "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim", which was announced in 2021, is already known. The film acts as a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and tells the story of Rohan King Helm Hammerhand. According to Warner, this film will be released in December.

Gollum is experiencing something of a revival as a character: based on the book license, Hamburg-based developer studio Daedalic launched an adventure game last year in which players act as Gollum. However, the game flopped and buried Daedalic as a development studio.

(dahe)