Andy Serkis is set to direct the upcoming film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is being produced by Peter Jackson, and he recently offered up some additional insight.
When asked about the film in an interview with Popverse, Serkis said: “It is so early; it would be unfair to commit to anything at this point.”
He then went on to say that some Lord of the Rings characters might return for the film. He said: “But I will say that it will be a deep dive where we investigate Gollum’s character.”
“There may be characters that we recognize that might be coming back. I’m not going to say who.”
It will be interesting to see what characters they bring back for the film, but the most obvious is Ian McKellan’s Gandalf. The actor previously said that he heard the character would be involved.
He said: “But there is no script, there is no offer, there is no plan.” When asked if he’s interested in returning to the role, he replied with a chuckle, “If I’m alive.”
The script is being written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, and it will “explore storylines yet to be told.” This particular film will obviously focus on Gollum.
When talking about why they are telling this story, Jackson said: “The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic.
“I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us. We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films.
“It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”
What other characters from Middle-earth do you think would make sense to bring into this story?