Sir Ian McKellen revealed that Frodo and Gandalf were returning for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
The forthcoming film is directed by Andy Serkis and produced by Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson. Serkis will once again play the title character using motion capture technology.
At the For the Love of Fantasy event in London over the weekend, McKellen, who played Gandalf in the original Lord of the Rings films, confirmed in a surprise announcement that the two beloved characters were coming back.
“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 is all about Gollum,” he said. “But 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!”
The Independent has contacted a Warner Bros representative for comment.
Several cast members from the original movies, including Elijah Wood, who played Frodo, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and John Rhys-Davies, were on the panel alongside McKellen.
It is unclear whether McKellen and Wood will be reprising their roles.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released between 2001 and 2003. The films were followed by the Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014.
The trilogies were massively successful, each raking in over $2.9bn worldwide at the box office.
In October last year, screenwriter Philippa Boyens told Empire that The Hunt For Gollum was “quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria. It is a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature”.
“Not just because Gollum was in it the most”, he explained, "but because at the time it came out, it hit the zeitgeist with its Battle of Helm’s Deep and the Iraq war for me”.
Tolkien famously despised allegory, prompting Serkis to admit: “He would hate me for saying that, but I just felt that the timing of that film had real power.”
When the new film was first announced, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said that Jackson, alongside producing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, “will be involved every step of the way”.
Serkis said at the time: “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 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.”
The Hunt for Gollum is expected to be released on 17 December 2027.
