Andy Serkis offered a disappointing release update for his upcoming Hunt for Gollum movie.
After last appearing in the famed fantasy franchise back in 2012's Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as his Gollum/Smeagol character, Serkis announced last year that he would be returning to Middle Earth in a new film project.
In May 2024, Serkis was revealed to be taking on directing duties for a new Lord of the Rings movie titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which he would also star in. The film was announced with a nebulous 2026 release date, being the first in a new batch of movies set in J.R.R. Tolkein's iconic literary world.
The Hunt For Gollum Pushed Out Of 2026
The Direct was in attendance for Andy Serkis' Fan Expo Vancouver 2025 panel on February 23, 2025, during which the Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum director revealed the movie's release plans have been officially pushed back.
When asked by The Direct's Klein Felt about where the movie stands in development in anticipation of its 2026 release date, Serkis revealed, "It is not 2026" and has been moved to 2027:
"Yeah, it is not 2026. It was originally going to be December 2026. It is going to be December 2027."
While publicly, the movie is still listed for 2026, Serkis's comments confirm that Hunt for Gollum is now set to be released in December 2027.
The Lord of the Rings star also divulged that the movie is "right at the beginning of the writing process" and plans are in place for production to begin "next year:"
"We are right at the beginning of the writing process. We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date."
This is the first meaningful update fans have gotten on the film since it was first reported to be in development back in May 2024 (via Variety).
At the time, the only concrete details revealed were that the movie was called Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, Serkis was directing and starring, and director of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, was on board as an executive producer.
What To Expect from The Hunt For Gollum
Despite The Hunt for Gollum's release prospects becoming clearer, the exact specifics of the film remain a massive question mark.
Before these most recent comments, all that Serkis himself had said about the movie came at the time of its announcement, where he provided a statement via Warner Bros. that "the time has come once more to venture into the unknown:"
"Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros. team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…"
The movie will seemingly be live-action (which is different from the recently released Lord of the Rings anime The War of the Rohirrim), will only be one movie, and will be filmed in New Zealand.
It will also see Serkis not only directing but also hopping back into the motion capture suit once again to play his beloved Lord of the Rings character, Gollum.
Some have speculated that the movie will be based on conversations had between the Hobbit Frodo and his fearless wizard friend Gandalf in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, where the wise magic-user (portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen in the films) describes his first encounter with Gollum long before the events of the books.
The upcoming film could depict these events in detail, as Gandalf looks into the storied One Ring and crosses paths with Serkis' disheveled Stoor.
Disappointingly, fans will likely have to wait more than a year at this point to discover the film's secrets, as the ball starts rolling toward production later this year.
Those looking to get their Middle Earth fix in the meantime can do so with the ongoing Rings of Power series on Amazon Prime Video—which is supposedly set to run for five seasons on the platform.
Andy Serkis's Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is reportedly set for a December 2027 release.
