Image: Warner Bros. Games
Andy Serkis will direct and star in a new Lord of the Rings movie centered on Gollum.
Warner Bros. Discovery held its first-quarter earnings conference call this week, wherein CEO David Zaslav announced that the company is officially making a series of new Lord of the Rings movies. The first of these will be Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), which is set to hit theatres in 2026.
This movie will be set in the same universe as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, with Jackson himself returning for the project along with his writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The trio are said to be, “involved every step of the way,” with Boyens and Walsh writing the movie’s screenplay.
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum announced for 2026
Like it or not, we’re getting more sequels and prequels to Peter Jackson’s legendary Lord of the Rings film trilogy within the next decade. During this week’s Q1 earnings conference call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed that new Lord of the Rings movies are, “now in the early stages of script development,” which the company does, “anticipate releasing in 2026.” These movies will, “explore storylines yet to be told.”
The first of these projects already has a working title and creative team attached. Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will see Peter Jackson return to produce while his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens handle the screenplay. Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the movie franchise, will reprise his role and direct the film. Serkis’ directing credits include Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
In a statement shared by The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson, Byens and Walsh said:
It is an honor 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! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with [WBD film chiefs] 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 Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…
While plot details are being kept under wraps for now, the titular ‘Hunt for Gollum’ might refer to an event that took place in The Fellowship of the Ring, which saw Aragorn being sent on a quest to find the creature by Gandalf. In the books, this happens right after Frodo receives the Ring from Bilbo, causing Gandalf to investigate its origins. He eventually gets Aragorn to help track down Gollum for him, which is likely to serve as the premise for this new movie.