The Hunt for Gollum director/star Andy Serkis says the release of the Lord of the Rings spinoff has been pushed back a full year.
When The Hunt for Gollum was originally announced, the Lord of the Rings spin-off was given a tentative December 2026 release date. However, director Andy Serkis told The Direct at Fan Expo Vancouver 2025 that the film has been pushed back by a full year.
“Yeah, it is not 2026. It was originally going to be December 2026. It is going to be December 2027,” Serkis said. “We are right at the beginning of the writing process. We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date.“
The Hunt for Gollum takes place during the same time period as The Fellowship of the Ring, with co-writer Philippa Boyens saying that it’s set shortly before Frodo leave the Shire for Rivendell. It would begin with Gandalf tasking Aragorn with finding Gollum, so he doesn’t spill the beans about the One Ring to Sauron. Aragorn and Gandolf play key roles in the story, but it still remains to be seen if Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen will return. Both have expressed an interest, although the 85-year-old McKellen has said that they’d “better be quick” about it if they want him back.
As for Mortensen, Boyens explained late last year that the actor has been approached and they really want him to come back. “Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage,” she said. “I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo.“
Given that it’s been well over twenty-five years since Mortensen played Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring, some digital trickery would likely be needed to dial back the years. “I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using A.I. [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is,” Boyens continued. “And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.“
