Ever since it was announced that fan would be getting new Lord of the Rings movies, the biggest question has been whether or not actors from the previous films in the franchise might appear. With The Hunt for Gollum, it's a given that Gollum himself, who will be played by Andy Serkis, who will also direct, would be present. However, we didn’t know for sure who else might see, or in what capacity. Now, though Ian McKellen has spilled some details.
Ian McKellen appeared at the For the Love of Fantasy fan event in London on Sunday, where he seemingly broke some big news. Speaking to an audience (via EW), he brought up the forthcoming movie, Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and confirmed the key characters in the movie, saying…
I hear there's going to be another movie based in Middle-earth, and it's going to start filming in May. It's going to be directed by Gollum, and it's all about Gollum. I'll tell you two secrets about the casting: There's a character in the movie called Frodo, and there's a character in the movie called Gandalf. Apart from that, my lips are sealed!
Most of the cast of The Lord of the Rings who've been asked have expressed willingness to return for this new movie. So it was seemingly all but certain that some of them would. I have to say I fully expected one of these names to be announced at some point, but the other…not so much.
Gandalf Returning For The Hunt For Gollum Makes Sense
If there was one character from LOTR who I expected would appear in The Hunt for Gollum, outside of the title character, of course, it was Gandalf. The wizard has never been the “main” character of the franchise, but he is the character who is always at the center of the biggest events, so it would honestly be strange if he, above all, wasn’t in the movie. McKellen was clear that if there was a role for him in the film, he would be happy to return as long as he wasn't dead.
While there’s a lot about The Hunt For Gollum that we simply aren’t sure of, the movie is likely to be about the period at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf was researching the One Ring, which led him to try and track down its previous owner. We don’t know everything Gandalf got up to, but that period in the books lasted years. There’s plenty for him to do.
But, for all the reasons that the return of Gandalf makes sense, the return of the other character does not.
What Is Frodo Going To Do In The Hunt For Gollum?
While having Gandalf return for The Hunt For Gollum makes a lot of sense, I’m breaking my brain trying to figure out how or why Frodo will be involved in the new movie. It’s made fairly clear that throughout the period that Gandalf was doing his work, Frodo didn’t do…anything.
Frodo’s role may be very small, of course. We may see recreations of scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring that Frodo was in, perhaps with some new additions to flesh out those moments. That's basically how Frodo was featured in The Hobbit but, even then, his role shouldn’t be that significant.
Announcing the return of Gandalf and Frodo at the same time essentially puts their roles on par, but if Frodo has a role in the film as significant as Gandalf’s, how does that even work, considering Frodo is supposed to be clueless as to the ring’s importance by this part of the story?
I’m as big a fan of Lord of the Rings as anybody, and I’m certainly hoping this movie turns out good. Yet shoehorning in Lord of the Rings characters where they didn’t need to be, was just of one of the flaws that kept The Hobbit from being as good, and I certainly hope we’re not doing that again.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is set to hit theaters on December 17, 2027. In the meantime, stream the original trilogy of LOTR films using an HBO Max subscription.
