Another Live-Action Lord Of The Rings Movie Announced

An interview with Gandalf actor Ian McKellen by This Morning led many to assume that the second Lord of the Rings film being developed was The Hunt for Gollum Part 2. However, Phillippa Boyens, who co-wrote the original film trilogy, confirmed that was a simple miscommunication. She clarified that there were no plans to make The Hunt for Gollum into a multi-part story and that the other unannounced film was entirely separate. 

Little is known about the unannounced Lord of the Rings movie, which doesn’t even have a publicly known title yet. The one detail Phillippa Boyens revealed was that Gandalf is involved in the story, which is what caused the mix-up with Ian McKellen. Given the character’s ancient nature and importance to the universe, it would be difficult for fans to guess what that story could be based on his involvement. 

The Hunt for Gollum is much less mysterious, and Lord of the Rings fans know what to expect from it for the most part. That film, which will be directed by its star Andy Serkis, is set during the events of the first movie in between Bilbo’s 111th birthday and the Mines of Moria sequence. It will be told from Gollum’s perspective, following his escape from Mordor. 

While the two live-action films are the most high-profile Lord of the Rings projects in the pipeline, an animated film is also coming out. The War of the Rohirrim is an anime film directed by Kenji Kamiyama that tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan. That movie comes out on December 13th, 2024, and if it’s successful, there are plans for more animated projects set in Middle Earth. 

These attempts to resurrect The Lord of the Rings are rooted in the enduring popularity of the 2000s movies and the original novels. Peter Jackson’s film trilogy took the world by storm in 2001, becoming some of the decade’s most successful movies. Between those blockbuster movies and the original J.R.R. Tolkien novels, Middle Earth has remained a fixture of pop culture. 

Lord of the Rings has remained an active franchise thanks to Amazon’s series The Rings of Power. That show has proven divisive, with deviations from the source material and the standard culture wars issues making it controversial among fans. Unlike both upcoming live-action movies, it isn’t associated with the Peter Jackson team that developed both the original trilogy and the film adaptations of The Hobbit. 

Fans will, no doubt, be eagerly waiting to see what the mysterious new Lord of the Rings movie is about. The expansive source material leaves plenty of room to explore the pasts of beloved characters like Aragorn or characters who were excluded from the films like Tom Bombadil. For now, all fans can do is wait for more details to trickle out.

Source: Empire