Middle-earth is heading back to cinemas in 2027 with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a new live-action film directed by and starring Andy Serkis.
Warner Bros. has confirmed the film will be released on 17 December 2027, landing in the lucrative pre-Christmas slot previously held by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies - both of which collectively grossed nearly £4.5billion worldwide.
Set between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hunt for Gollum will explore untold chapters from Gollum’s murky past, including his pursuit by Sauron, Gandalf and Aragorn.
The film reunites much of the original creative team: Serkis is joined by Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, all of whom are producing, with Walsh and Boyens also co-writing the screenplay alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.
“It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that stinker — Gollum!” said Jackson, Walsh and Boyens in a joint statement.
“As life-long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”
Serkis added: “Yesssss, Precious. 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 WETA and our film-making family in New Zealand, a new adventure is about to begin. It’s just all too delicious...”
The film will mark Serkis’s return to the role of Gollum more than 15 years after his last on-screen performance as the character in 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
That film featured Gollum in the iconic “Riddles in the Dark” scene with Bilbo Baggins, and was the character’s only major appearance in the Hobbit trilogy.
He did not feature in Amazon’s The Rings of Power series, and while a 2023 video game focused on Gollum was released, it was critically panned and had no involvement from Serkis.
The December 2027 slot currently overlaps with a placeholder date Disney had reserved for an as-yet-untitled Star Wars film, but that is now widely expected to shift to avoid direct competition with the Middle-earth juggernaut.
The announcement arrives just months after Warner Bros.' animated entry into the franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which told the story of Helm Hammerhand and the origins of Helm’s Deep.
Despite Tolkien pedigree, the anime film underperformed at the global box office, earning just over £15million - a modest return by franchise standards.
Nonetheless, Warner Bros. Discovery chiefs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca have made no secret of their intention to revitalise Tolkien’s world on screen, striking a new deal with rights-holders Embracer Group in 2023.
De Luca and Abdy described Jackson and his team as “our north star when it comes to the world of Tolkien”.
The studio is also developing a second live-action film set in Middle-earth, though details remain under wraps. The project is reportedly still in early stages, but Jackson, Walsh and Boyens are said to be creatively involved.
Speculation around the return of legacy cast members has also begun to swirl. Last year, Sir Ian McKellen said he would consider playing Gandalf again, “if I’m still alive”.
Viggo Mortensen, who portrayed Aragorn in the original trilogy, recently told GQ he’d be open to reprising the role: “I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character.
“ I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”
Meanwhile, over at Amazon Prime Video, The Rings of Power series continues to expand Tolkien’s mythology on the small screen. Season two aired from August to October 2024, with a third season now officially greenlit and production expected to begin shortly.
With The Hunt for Gollum, Warner Bros. appears determined to return to the grounded, character-driven storytelling that made the original trilogy a global phenomenon.
For fans, the return of Serkis and the creative minds behind the Oscar-winning saga offers a tantalising prospect: a deeper dive into one of Tolkien’s most tragic - and fascinating - figures.
