No, you haven’t dreamed about it. A Lord of the Rings spinoff film centered on Gollum is set to be released in 2026, and actor and director Andy Serkis has revealed some future developments for the project.
Via Popverse, we got a few small hints from Serkis about this surprise new movie, including a possible title change (thank god) and a ton of returning characters.
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The filmmaker didn’t reveal any big-name actors who might be returning — Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) have both expressed interest in returning — but he admitted that they’re already trying to figure out who might come back as part of the new story. “It’s too early; it would be unfair to make any promises right now,” Serkis said, “but I will say that we’re going to delve into the character of Gollum. Some of the characters that we know might return. I won’t say who they are.”
Given the story’s potential placement in the timeline (between the main events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings), it wouldn’t be surprising to see characters like Gandalf or Aragorn return, but the elves in particular should be involved in the search for the imp and one-time Ringbearer. Likewise, the forces of Mordor spent years searching for Gollum, eventually getting the information they needed from him and sending the Ringwraith to the Shire. The rest is well-known Middle-earth history. Long story short: Lord of the Rings veterans will have cameos, even sizable roles, and anti-aging technology will likely be used. We can safely predict that.
As for the lengthy title, which most people aren’t happy about, Serkis says we should chill because the movie “probably won’t end up being called that.” “It’s going to be very much like Middle-earth, based on Gollum’s experiences,” he says, possibly hinting at a darker tone that will help differentiate this spinoff from the “main” movie and make it more appealing since most moviegoers are still wondering if we really need it.
Now that Embracer has control of the core Middle-earth material for both video games and movies, we’ll certainly see more Lord of the Rings-related stories in the coming years, but these two recent stories began long before the acquisition of the rights to Tolkien’s core works. In this new era for the franchise, New Line Cinema is still in the Middle-earth business, with the long-awaited Rothschild War animated film set to hit theaters this Christmas, and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings Season 2 set to arrive on Prime Video on August 29.
