The new Lord of the Rings has its cast.
Announced at CinemaCon (and shared online by Warner Bros.’ official social accounts), The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will star its director Andy Serkis as Gollum (and Smeagol), along with Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider, Leo Woodall as Halvard, Lee Pace as Thranduil, and Elijah Wood as Frodo.
Strider is eventually revealed to be Aragorn — the character played by Viggo Mortensen in Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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Serkis let it slip that Aragorn would be in the film and that he would be played by a new actor in interviews just a few weeks ago. It may be a little odd to see a new person in that role, while Serkis, McKellen, and Wood are all reprising their parts from the earlier movies. (Lee Pace is reprising his role from the subsequent Hobbit prequels, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies.)
Serkis also recently confirmed that his movie “takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and it’s The Hunt for Gollum, and it is a physical hunt for the character, but also a psychological hunt for himself.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum is scheduled to open in theaters on December 17, 2027. It is one of two major new Lord of the Rings movies in development from Warner Bros.; the other is currently being co-written by Late Show host Stephen Colbert.
