Posted in: Movies, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros | Tagged: andy serkis, lord of the rings, The Hunt for Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

The Hunt for Gollum: A Character Andy Serkis "Cannot Escape From"

Director and star Andy Serkis will head to New Zealand this weekend to begin prep work on The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

Published Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:17:04 -0500

by Kaitlyn Booth

Last updated Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:25:55 -0500

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Article Summary

Andy Serkis begins prep in New Zealand to direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
The film is slated for a December 17, 2027 release, with major VFX work anticipated for Gollum’s character.
Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are writing the screenplay, with Peter Jackson serving as a producer.
The story explores a key period after Bilbo's birthday party and before the Mines of Moria, from Gollum’s perspective.

It sounds like production on the next live-action Lord of the Rings film is about to kick off, which makes sense considering its December 2027 release date. The Hunt for Gollum will have a ton of VFX that needs to get done, obviously, and no one wants to rush this. People will notice if Gollum looks worse in 2027 than he did in 2003. Andy Serkis is taking on directing duties for this one while playing the title character. Some actors get a little annoyed when people keep asking them to return to the same character over and over again, but Serkis doesn't seem to have that frame of mind. Or he's just happily accepted that his career will forever be tied to Gollum, and fighting it won't help anyone. He recently spoke to Metro and revealed that he was heading down to New Zealand this Saturday to start on prep and couldn't be happier in every sense of the word.

"I'm very excited to go back. I leave for New Zealand on Saturday," Serkis said. "We're going down to start prep and working on it, because I'm directing. I'm thrilled to return to the family that I've loved working with for many years, and a character that I cannot escape from."

: DECEMBER 9, 2014: Andy Serkis at the Los Angeles premiere of his movie "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood. Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

: © 2003 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Hunt for Gollum Is The First Of Two New Live-Action LOTR Films

We first learned that franchise MVP Serkis would direct and star in The Hunt for Gollum, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens writing the screenplay, and Walsh, Boyens, and Peter Jackson are producing along with Zane Weiner back in May 2024. The film will be executive-produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium's Jonathan Cavendish. In October 2024, Boyens revealed when the film will take place, "It's quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria. It's a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature."

That same interview was when it was cleared up that The Hunt for Gollum is not two films, but they are working on two different live-action Lord of the Rings movies, and The Hunt for Gollum is one of them. "I can tell you definitively it isn't two films!" she says. "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 still don't have any specific details about that second film yet. However, considering how badly The War of the Rohirrim performed at the box office, it wouldn't be surprising if we didn't hear much until the number for The Hunt for Gollum rolls in on Monday after release. In May 2025, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (this appears to be a working title) was dated for December 17, 2027.

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