The Lord of the Rings franchise has grossed nearly $6 billion over the course of six movies, so it didn’t come as a big surprise when it was announced that more movies were in development. The first of these movies will be Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. In addition to reprising his role as Gollum, Andy Serkis will direct the film, which he recently hinted could include appearances from characters we know and love.

Serkis dropped a few teases about the project while speaking at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 (via Popverse). “It is so early; it would be unfair to commit to anything at this point,” Serkis said. “But I will say that it will be a deep dive where we investigate Gollum’s character. There may be characters that we recognize that might be coming back. I’m not going to say who.“

As the story will likely take place during the timeline of The Fellowship of the Ring, a few potential candidates include Gandalf and Aragorn, and Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen have both expressed a tentative willingness to return. Serkis also said that The Hunt for Gollum is a “work-in-progress title,” so the final movie may not end up being called that, but it will “very much be the world of Middle-earth according to Gollum’s experience of it.” Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are writing the script for The Hunt for Gollum, which will be produced by Peter Jackson.

While we did see much of Gollum’s story play out in the previous six movies, Peter Jackson has previously said that there’s still a lot of story left to be told. “The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic,” Jackson said. “I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us. We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films. It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.“

Which Lord of the Rings characters would you like to see appear in The Hunt for Gollum?

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