Turns out the new “Lord of the Rings” film won’t be super-sized after all.
In early 2023 came the news that Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line were developing more live-action movies based on “The Lord of the Rings” property. Then in May came the news that the first of these would be “The Hunt for Gollum” which is aiming to release in 2026.
Last month, Sir Ian McKellen was on a British chat show and said he would be looking at the script in the new year befor adding: “I’m told it’s two films. I probably shouldn’t be saying that [laughs]. But I haven’t read the script. So, I don’t know if it is.”
That led to speculation the film was being split into two parts. In an interview with Empire, co-writer and long time ‘Rings’ producer Philippa Boyens confirmed “The Hunt for Gollum” will only be one movie – but at least one other film is currently in development telling a different ‘Rings’ story:
“I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because 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. We’re playing around with a number of ideas, but most of those ideas do include Gandalf. So Gandalf would potentially return for two live-action films.”
‘The Hunt for Gollum’ is expected to be set during the events of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” in the time between Bilbo’s birthday party and before the Fellowship enters the Mines or Moria.
Boyens says: “It’s quite an intense story… it’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” will be released in 2026. Before that we’re getting the new animated film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” with a new featurette for that released today ahead of the film’s release in cinemas December 13th.
