Lord of the Rings fans say ‘it’s about time’ as new film lands release date 26 years after The Fellowship

Warner Bros. has announced that The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will arrive in movie theaters on December 17, 2027.

The film is being directed by Gollum star Andy Serkis, and produced by original Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson. Serkis will once again play the title character using motion capture technology.

On social media, fans have reacted with delight to the news that The Lord of the Rings film universe will be expanding, with one saying simply: “It's about time.”

The original Lord of the Rings trilogy was released between 2001 and 2003. Those films were followed by the Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014. They were both massively successful at the box office, each taking in over $2.9 billion.

On X, one fan wrote of the new film centered on Gollum: “It's cool Andy Serkis he's directing it because he definitely cares about the character well and will likely stay true to it.”

Another wrote: “Andy Serkis directing and starring as Gollum? Yeah, this one’s gonna be unhinged in the best, most whispery way.”

Last October, screenwriter Philippa Boyens told Empire that The Hunt For Gollum is “quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria. It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”

In 2023, Serkis told The Independent that his favorite Lord of the Rings movie was the second one, The Two Towers.

“Not just because Gollum was in it the most”, he explained, "but because at the time it came out, it hit the zeitgeist with its Battle of Helm’s Deep and the Iraq war for me.”

Tolkien famously despised allegory, leading Serkis to add: “He would hate me for saying that, but I just felt that the timing of that film had real power.”

When the new film was first announced, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said that Jackson, alongside producing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.”

Serkis said at the time: “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.”