Can you believe it’s been over a decade since a live-action Lord of the Rings movie came out? Next year, Andy Serkis will end the long hiatus with his spinoff film, The Hunt For Gollum. So far, I’ve had a “wait and see” mentality about the movie, but after Elijah Wood’s recent comments, I feel like I’m ready to get the fireworks going for a celebration in The Shire.
What Elijah Wood Said About The Hunt For Gollum
Rumor has it that Elijah Wood is reprising his role as Frodo in The Hunt For Gollum, which he has said he can “neither confirm nor deny.” After the actor was honest before about having read the script for it, he was asked how it can possibly live up to the original trilogy on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Here’s how he responded:
I don’t think it has to, because it doesn’t bear the weight of the trilogy. It’s not the trilogy. It’s not those books, but it is certainly excerpts from those books, and characters from the books, and it is all canon – I can say that. It’s a side quest. It’s a side story. I think it’ll provide a lot of context for Gollum and an understanding of that character that we only got a bit of in the prologue [in The Two Towers].
From what we know about The Hunt For Gollum, it will be another live-action Lord of the Rings movie, this time helmed by Andy Serkis, who is also reprising his role as Gollum in motion capture. It will be set before the events of Fellowship of the Ring and follow Aragorn and Gandalf on a quest to find Gollum to acquire more information about Bilbo’s ring.
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Ian McKellan has confirmed his return as Gandalf, and Andy Serkis confirmed to ScreenRant that the role of Aragorn is being recast. Here’s what else Wood said:
And, I know this was something that was super important to Andy [Serkis], and I’m sure he’ll talk about it….I think they got excited at the notion of a nugget of a story, and then they wrote it, and realized that they had found the ‘why’ – like ‘why are we doing this?’ ‘Well, this is why we’re doing this.’ So, it’s filled with integrity.
He also noted that a lot of the creatives and crew from the original trilogy are part of the new film, including Peter Jackson being on board as a producer. Wood sounds pretty excited about the whole thing!
I think after The Hobbit movies, there’s definitely some negative thoughts out there about more live-action Lord of the Rings. When I first heard the news about The Hunt For Gollum, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy either. However, I think Elijah Wood makes some really solid points here about this film.
For one, he’s right, the Peter Jackson movies already exist and are greatly admired and stunning achievements. Based on his comments, The Hunt For Gollum sounds like Serkis and the other filmmakers are aiming to give fans more of what they love about the originals and enrich the lore of the movie universe after Fellowship of the Ring could only cover so much of Tolkien’s work.
Sure, I’m still a bit worried about how much The Hunt For Gollum will be in the shadows of the trilogy, but I do deeply miss being in Middle Earth. And as someone who grew up with the Lord of the Rings movies, I’m really excited about getting to see them in theaters and see some of my favorite fantasy characters back on the big screen.
Elijah Wood expressing the filmmakers’ good intentions is also a good sign, too. I think it’d be much more difficult to be on board if the original creatives weren’t in the mix, but Gollum himself is directing and starring. The hype is starting to rise for me! The Hunt For Gollum is slated for December 17, 2027.