Andy Serkis teases his Lord of the Rings spin-off movie, says that “characters we recognize” may return

Andy Serkis has shared a bit more about his upcoming Lord of the Rings spin-off movie, The Hunt for Gollum.

“It is so early; it would be unfair to commit to anything at this point. But I will say that it will be a deep dive where we investigate Gollum’s character,” Serkis told a panel at ACE Superhero Comic Con 2024 (via Popverse). “There may be characters that we recognize that might be coming back. I’m not going to say who.”

The film was officially announced in May, with Serkis set to direct and reprise his role as Mr. Smeagol himself. No plot details have been revealed, but a 2009 fan-made movie of the same name gives us an idea of the story, which can be found in the appendices of the original Lord of the Rings novel. In the story, Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may divulge information about the One Ring to Sauron and sends Aragorn on a quest to find him. There’s been no official word as to whether Viggo Mortensen will return as Aragorn in the pic, though Ian McKellen said he ‘heard’ that Gandalf will indeed be in the film.

More Lord of the Rings movies are reportedly on the way, with Peter Jackson directly involved. This includes an animated film called The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set for a December 2024 release. The Rings of Power season 2 will premiere on Prime Video on August 29.

The Hunt for Gollum is set to hit theaters in 2026. For more, check out our guides to how to watch The Lord of the Rings movies in order and our breakdown of The Lord of the Rings timeline.