The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum now has an official release date, and it continues a franchise trend. Based on the book series by J. R. R. Tolkien, the first live-action Lord of the Rings movie arrived in 2001 with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Five live-action movies later, Andy Serkis is now set to direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is expected to take place during the events of Jackson's first Middle-earth adventure.
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema now reveal that . The announcement confirms that Serkis will direct and star in the film, with Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens producing. The Hunt for Gollum's script will hail from Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou. This new release date confirmation continues a franchise trend, with all previous live-action movies having also released in December. Additional reporting from THR states that this new film is one of two Lord of the Rings movies that Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens are overseeing.
This announcement accompanies confirmation that Warner Bros. has dated the new Evil Dead movie for July 24, 2026, and M. Night Shyamalan's Remain for October 23, 2026.
It was originally reported that The Hunt for Gollum was going to arrive in December 2026. During a February appearance at Fan Expo Vancouver, per The Direct, Serkis confirmed that the film wasn't going to make this window, with December 2027 the new targeted window. The star revealed that the film was, at the time, "right at the beginning of the writing process," with prep set to start later in the year, and .
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This new announcement from Warner Bros. fits with the timeline that Serkis provided, meaning there is still quite a long wait before any actual filming will be done on the movie. With a more secure timeline, though, . It remains unconfirmed, for example, whether original Lord of the Rings cast members like Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), or Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) will be reprising their roles, but news may not be far off.
By the time The Hunt for Gollum releases in December 2027, it will have been 13 years since the last live-action Lord of the Rings movie was released, with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies hitting theaters in December 2014. Though a December release date certainly won't be essential to Serkis' film achieving success, .
The Hunt for Gollum takes place during the events of The Fellowship of the Ring, meaning it will be seemingly recreating some locations and characters that audiences haven't seen in quite some time. , and the movie will hopefully be able to stand on its own two feet as a fun Middle-earth adventure. Many questions remain about , but audiences at least now have a firm date to look forward to.
Source: Warner Bros., THR
