Andy Serkis to Return as Gollum in New Lord of the Rings Film

Fresh off the announcement of a new streaming bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and Max, Warner Bros. has announced that a brand-new Lord of the Rings film is on the way.

In an earnings call with investors, controversial Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav revealed that Peter Jackson would be returning to produce a new film in the Lord of the Rings franchise. In a release following the earnings call, as reported by Deadline, the company revealed the film would focus on Gollum.

The film is set to be titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum – though it’s said to be a working title – and will see Andy Serkis returning to star as Gollum, reprising the role from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Serkis will also direct the film, with Jackson set to produce alongside screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou will also be working on the screenplay.

Unlike recent Amazon Prime Video series The Rings of Power, it’s expected that The Hunt for Gollum will tie in to Peter Jackson’s prior Middle-Earth films, though it’s unknown where exactly in the timeline the film will take place. That said,

“Yesssss, Precious,” Serkis said in an apparently in-character statement. “The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be the first of at least two new films in the franchise, according to Warner Bros. Motion Pictures heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. It looks like exact details have yet to be ironed out in regards to production, but WB expects the film to be released sometime in 2026.