Lord Of The Rings’ Next Movie Officially Hits Major Filming Milestone

Published Nov 11, 2026, 1:57 PM EST Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum has just hit a crucial production milestone. Directed by and starring Andy Serkis, the latest feature film in the Lord of the Rings franchise tells the story of Gandalf and Aragorn's search for Gollum after Bilbo's 111th birthday. The Hunt for Gollum entered production on July 14 in New Zealand ahead of its theatrical release next year. During a recent interview on The Morning Mosh Pit, Serkis reveals that filming on The Hunt for Gollum has now wrapped. The actor teases a compelling arc for Gollum this time around, calling the creature "one of Tolkien's most complicated characters." Check out Serkis' full comment below: "We’ve just wrapped principal photography and I’m directing this one, so it’s been an incredible journey back into an endlessly complex and wonderfully drawn and written character for the third time. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit trilogy, and now going back in on this film. So, I’m very excited about it. He just is one of Tolkien’s most complicated characters and does definitely bear closer examination." The Hunt for Gollum is still more than a year away from hitting theaters, but it's not unusual for a film of this scale to have a long post-production pipeline. Gollum, after all, is a digital creation based on Serkis' motion capture performance, and the film is also expected to feature an abundance of other visual effects shots. In addition to Serkis back as Gollum, the film will feature an array of new and returning stars. Among the familiar faces are Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Lee Pace as Thranduil. Newcomers include Jamie Dornan as Aragorn, Kate Winslet as Marigol, Leo Woodall as Halvard, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren. With production taking place in New Zealand, The Hunt for Gollum is following in the footsteps of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This trilogy, of course, was critically acclaimed and a major box office hit, earning widespread acclaim for its adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's source material and its stunning take on the world of Middle-earth. Jackson is back as producer on The Hunt for Gollum, alongside original trilogy scribes Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson, Boyens, and Phoebe Gittens wrote the movie's screenplay. The Hunt for Gollum will arrive as The Lord of the Rings remains a relative mainstay of pop culture. Amazon's The Rings of Power series returns this week for season 3, and Serkis' movie comes several years after The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) anime. The War of the Rohirrim, however, was a notable box office bomb, and The Rings of Power remains divisive. The Hunt for Gollum, then, has an opportunity to be the first well-received Middle-earth project in quite some time. This is especially true given the lackluster reception to Jackson's own The Hobbit trilogy, which stretched from 2012 to 2014. More to come... Release Date December 17, 2027 Director Andy Serkis Writers Arty Papageorgiou, Phoebe Gittins, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, J.R.R. Tolkien Franchise(s) The Lord of the Rings