The heroes of Middle-earth are making a comeback in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Actor Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, revealed that both Gandalf and Frodo will return to Middle-earth on the big screen. McKellen broke the news on August 17 at the For the Love of Fantasy fan event in London.
“I’ll tell you two secrets about the casting,” said McKellen. “There’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s a character in the movie called Gandalf. Apart from that, my lips are sealed.”
Scheduled to premiere on December 17, 2027, The Hunt for Gollum will be directed by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Jackson’s Middle-earth films. Jackson will serve as a producer, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou writing the script. Warner Bros. will also produce the film under New Line Cinema.
Screen Rant reports that The Hunt for Gollum will be set before Frodo leaves the Shire in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It will follow Gollum when he is being pursued by Gandalf, Aragorn, and the Dark Lord Sauron.
Frodo and Gandalf’s appearance is huge news for fans of The Lord of the Rings films. While McKellen didn’t state that he and Elijah Wood would portray Gandalf and Frodo in the film, Serkis is reprising his role as Gollum for the project. It stands to reason that both McKellen and Wood will join Serkis back in Middle-earth as their respective characters.
If both McKellen and Wood do appear, The Hunt for Gollum would be the first film in 15 years that would feature both actors as Gandalf and Frodo, with the last one being 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Gandalf and Frodo’s return may be a huge boon for The Hunt for Gollum. The last theatrical film in the franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, didn’t perform that well commercially without Frodo or Gandalf.
Since these two characters were some of the main characters in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, they could attract enough fans to make The Hunt for Gollum a box-office success.
