A new Lord of the Rings' movie was just announced by Warner Bros. While still in early development, The Hunt for Gollum looks like it has huge potential.
A new film set in the world of The Lord of the Rings has been announced by Warner Bros, who recently signed a deal for these rights with the Embracer Group, the owners of "Middle-earth Enterprises".
It's going to be called "The Hunt for Gollum", which is an event referenced in the books but not shown in the movies. The new title is being produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Andy Serkis — yes, the actor who played Gollum.
Next Lord of the Rings Film From Peter Jackson: The Hunt for Gollum
The Hunt for Gollum will be a feature-length, live-action movie, and it is set to release in 2026. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced the film during an earnings call on Thursday, May 9.
The film is still in the early stages of script development from writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, but we can quite easily predict what period of Middle-earth's history the film will cover.
What Will The Hunt for Gollum Be About?
Based on the working title, we can confidently assume that the movie will be focused on the period when Aragorn, then still living as a Ranger under the pseudonym Strider, went hunting for Gollum on Gandalf's behalf. This all took place between Bilbo's 144th birthday (where he disappears) and Gandalf's return to the Shire to tell Frodo about the true nature of Bilbo's ring.
Gandalf became suspicious of the One Ring shortly after Bilbo's birthday, and so he asked Aragorn to hunt Gollum, the previous owner, for questioning. We get very little detail of these events, save for a passage in the Fellowship of the Ring: The Council of Elrond, in which Aragorn uses the exact phrase "hunt for Gollum" to refer to this period:
'And I,' said Aragorn, 'counselled that we should hunt for Gollum, too late though it may seem. And since it seemed fit that Isildur’s heir should labour to repair Isildur’s fault, I went with Gandalf on the long and hopeless search.’
The hunt sees Aragorn exploring the lands but to no avail, until he is almost ready to give up entirely:
‘I, too, despaired at last, and I began my homeward journey. And then, by fortune, I came suddenly on what I sought: the marks of soft feet beside a muddy pool. But now the trail was fresh and swift, and it led not to Mordor but away. Along the skirts of the Dead Marshes I followed it, and then I had him. Lurking by a stagnant mere, peering in the water as the dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. [...] For my part I hope never to look upon him again; but Gandalf came and endured long speech with him.’
Gandalf interrogates Gollum and discovers that Bilbo's ring, now Frodo's, is actually the One Ring. This is when he returns to the Shire and tells Frodo that he needs to get ready to leave.
In the films, we don't see the hunt for Gollum. Instead, Gandalf is implied to have researched enough to have discovered that it was the One Ring. You might remember this scene of Gandalf, like a student finishing an essay in a coming of age movie:
Gollum later escapes, but Gandalf already has all the information he needs.
The film will almost certainly follow this period of Strider the Ranger hunting down Gollum, just before the War of the Ring begins. If you want to get an idea of what those events look like, there's a wonderful fan-made film also called "The Hunt for Gollum" that was released back in 2009. It was a complete passion project, and is still free to watch on their website.