Warner Bros. will release the first of its new Lord of the Rings films, Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, in 2026.
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be directed by and star Andy Serkis, who portrayed Gollum via motion capture technology in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The new film is in the early stages of script development, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens to write the screenplay alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.
Peter Jackson, who directed the original Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies, will produce the film with Walsh and Boyens, with Serkis, Ken Kamins and Jonathan Cavendish to serve as executive producers.
"It is an honor and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker -- Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien's vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!" Jackson, Walsh and Boyens said."Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros. team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it's just all too delicious..." Serkis added.
Warner Bros. confirmed in February 2023 that it is developing "multiple" films based on the Lord of the Rings fantasy book series by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien's writings were also adapted as the Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which was renewed for Season 2 in November 2019 ahead of its premiere on Prime Video.
