Andy Serkis will both direct and play in the first movie based on The Lord of the Rings since 2014.
Around the same time that movie studios came to the conclusion that everything needed to be a massive franchise that would continue on for an infinite amount of time, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy was released. The fact that Warner Bros. Discovery has not capitalized on Tolkien’s work to a greater extent than they have already done is quite surprising when viewed from this angle. This is about to change, however, as the studio has just revealed that they are beginning production on two new Lord of the Rings films (you can read the whole press release here).
The first one is being directed by Andy Serkis, who is known for his iconic role as Gollum in Jackson’s previous films. The film is being titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and it is now in the process of being titled. For me, the fact that Serkis is on board and that he is working from a script written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens (who, along with Jackson, were responsible for writing the previous Middle-earth movies), makes me feel a little bit better about the possibility that this is not just a crass attempt to make money. Additionally, Peter Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are going to be involved in the production of the film. Additionally, Serkis directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2022. Prior to that, he worked as a second unit director on The Hobbit films on multiple occasions.
You won’t be shocked to find that Serkis is also featured in the film once again, this time playing the role of the titular Gollum, given the working title of the picture. Although there was a part of me that was curious to see how another actor would portray the character, Serkis provided such a comprehensive portrayal of Gollum on the big screen that it is nearly impossible to imagine anybody else playing the part. As for the subject matter that will be covered in the film, there has been no official announcement made as of yet; nevertheless, the title suggests that it will take place in the time period between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. This is because Gandalf and Aragorn will be searching Middle-earth for Gollum in an effort to acquire additional information regarding the ring that Bilbo and then Frodo owned.
In light of the fact that Hollywood has an insatiable appetite for content that is based on popular franchises, it is quite surprising that something like this did not occur sooner. Nine years after the release of the first trilogy of films, Jackson and his team followed up with a film series that was bloated and overly dependent on computer-generated imagery. The series was based on The Hobbit and events that corresponded to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings extras. Additionally, the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, which was published by Amazon, made its debut in the year 2022. Additionally, prior to the release of The Hunt for Gollum, we will learn about another exciting project, which is a film in the style of anime called The War of the Rohirrim. This film will be released in December, and it will cover events that took place in Rohan a few hundred years prior to the events of The Lord of the Rings.
In light of the fact that I am a huge admirer of the Lord of the Rings, I am both dubious and enthusiastic about this announcement. It is a terrible truth of the entertainment industry that initiatives such as these will take place regardless of the circumstances; there is an excessive amount of money that is invested in items such as Lord of the Rings, and it would be irresponsible to not attempt to extract more. On the other hand, Serkis appears to be a great option to helm this film, and we can only hope that they will discover a script that is concise, self-contained, and capable of functioning as a standalone film. The mess that was made in the Hobbit films has made me apprehensive, but even in those movies, I found lots of things to appreciate, and this seems like a fantastic opportunity to chart a positive road forward for many more movies that take place in Middle-earth.