Warner Bros. announces The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis

In early May 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures and its subsidiary New Line Cinema announced a new live-action film set in Middle-earth, the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The film was titled The Hunt for Gollum.

Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films through motion-capture performances, was named as director. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the writing and producing team behind the earlier trilogy, were attached as producers. The announcement said the story would draw on events between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, when Gollum is pursued across Middle-earth.

The announcement mattered because it marked the first new Lord of the Rings film project from the studio since the Hobbit trilogy ended in 2014. It signalled a return to the cinematic franchise, alongside television spin-offs, and brought back key creative figures from the original films. Casting questions, including who would play the ranger Aragorn, became a major focus of later coverage as the project took shape.