Ian McKellen is 85 years old, and apparently he’s not ready to retire Gandalf.
Over the weekend at London’s For the Love of Fantasy fan event, McKellen updated the crowd on the new Lord of the Rings film, one directed by Andy Serkis. “It’s going to start filming in May. It’s going to be directed by Gollum, and it’s all about Gollum,” McKellen teased.
Warner Bros. announced “The Hunt for Gollum” last year, with Serkis both helming and starring, and Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens producing. It was supposed to be a 2026 release. Now it’s been pushed to December 2027.
McKellen then sent fans into meltdown with one simple line: “There’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s a character in the movie called Gandalf.” Elijah Wood happened to be there too, grinning as the tease landed.
Of course, Warner Bros is milking Tolkien again. CEO David Zaslav has already lumped “The Hunt for Gollum” with the studio’s other “biggest priorities”: Batman, and Superman.
Amazon’s billion-dollar gamble with “The Rings of Power” failed to ignite much, so WB sees an opening. And unlike Amazon’s series, this one comes with the Jackson/Serkis seal of approval. That’s what they’re banking on — nostalgia, recognition, the safe return to familiar faces.
Do audiences want more Middle-earth? Maybe. But the fact remains: Tolkien’s world was wrapped up pretty definitively in 2003 with ‘Return of the King.’ Everything since then — the bloated Hobbit trilogy, Amazon’s billion-dollar misfire — has been diminishing returns. The fear is that “The Hunt for Gollum” will be more of the same.
No word yet on whether Viggo Mortensen would be part of ‘Hunt for Gollum’. Boyens previously mentioned that only Mortensen had shown hesitancy to return, and that if he refused to star in ‘Gollum’ then he would have to “hand off” the character to another actor.
Apparently, ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ is set during ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ era, shortly before Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire for Rivendell. The film starts with Gandalf sending Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum.
If you’re wondering exactly how the original cast can possibly come back, all of whom have aged by 20 years, then Philippa Boyens, who is writing the script, recently confided that Serkis would be using “AI technology” and “digital make-up” to achieve that goal.
There's a lot of talent. Julianne Moore, Elle Fanning, Josh Hartnett, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Danny Huston, Robert Aramayo and Chloe Pirrie will all be part of the sprawling ensemble.