Everything to know about ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum': Cast, release date, director
We wants it. We needs it. But we gotta waits for it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), the highly anticipated LOTR spin-off film from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, will hit theaters in December 2027. Yes, you read that right — moviegoers have to wait two-and-a-half years to see their favorite pale-skinned Middle-earth monster from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world up on the big screen again. Read on for everything to know about the new movie, including information on the cast, release date, and director.
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As of this writing, only Andy Serkis has been announced as starring in the new film. And yes, he's reprising his role as Gollum, a creature who was obsessed with the One Ring (which he called "my precious"). The English actor rose to fame in the early aughts for his motion-caption work on the original Lord of the Rings movies. He won the Best Digital Acting Performance category at the Critics Choice Awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and shared in that organization's Best Acting Ensemble prize for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. But what about Gollum's frenemy, Gandalf? In June 2024, Ian McKellen stated he was open to playing his popular wizard again in future projects, and in October 2024, screenwriter-producer Philippa Boyens teased that The Hunt for Gollum film might include Gandalf in some form. Stay tuned.
Mark your calendars for Dec. 17, 2027, as that's the official theatrical release date for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Warners made the announcement in May 2025, more than two-and-a-half years out from the big day. All of the prior LOTR and The Hobbit live-action films directed by Peter Jackson opened around the same time: The Fellowship of the Ring on Dec. 19, 2001; The Two Towers on Dec. 18, 2002; The Return of the King on Dec. 17, 2003; An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 14, 2012; The Desolation of Smaug on Dec. 13, 2013; and The Battle of the Five Armies on Dec. 17, 2014. Clearly, Middle-earth comes alive in December.Andy Serkis is doing double-duty on the movie, as both the star and the director. It'll be the fifth feature film he's directed after Breathe (2017), Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), and Animal Farm (2025). The producers of The Hunt for Gollum will include Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens — who all worked on the original LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies — plus Zane Weiner. The screenwriters will be Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou.
Serkis has announced that filming will take place sometime in 2026. "We are right at the beginning of the writing process," he said in February 2025. "We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date." It's been reported that Wellington, New Zealand, will serve as the production hub for the two upcoming Lord of the Rings films.
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When Middle-earth Enterprises was acquired by Embracer Group in 2022, a new deal was struck with New Line Cinema to make two new Lord of the Rings movies. The first is The Hunt for Gollum, and the second has not yet been made public. "We've begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films, the first being The Hunt For Gollum, the second one still to be confirmed," Boyens revealed in October 2024.
If you haven't seen a Lord of the Rings movie in a while (or ever), you probably need a refresher on Gollum's backstory. Basically, he used to be a Stoor Hobbit named Smeagol, but when he found the One Ring by a riverbed and put it on, it extended his life and transformed into a monster. He became obsessed with the One Ring and stalked all of its future owners, until he eventually acquired it again at Mount Doom in Mordor and died while falling into a volcano. Throughout the original movies, Gollum is seen talking to himself in his unique style of speech, and often calls the ring "my precious."
Don't be confused, this new film has nothing to do with the 2009 fan-made movie from British filmmaker Chris Bouchard. He created an unauthorized short film called The Hunt for Gollum for about $5,000, based on Tolkien's written works. It's currently free to watch on YouTube and has a whopping 14 million views. The plot: "Prompted by Gandalf, a ranger by the name of Strider sets out to search for the creature Gollum, who knows the location of the Ring."
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