It's been a while since we received a decent update about the upcoming new Lord of the Rings movie The Hunt from Gollum, but the Warner Bros. boss has finally given fans the exciting sign of hope we have been looking for. Most recently, star and director Andy Serkis revealed that they're currently very early in the process, and now we know a bit more about what's happening behind the scenes.
During a recent earnings call, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav spoke on a number of the company's forthcoming high-profile releases, including The Batman II, Harry Potter, and the recent hit Superman. Of course, he mentioned the new in-the-works Lord of the Rings installment and provided some insight on where production currently stands. It sounds like some promising news!
"We've got a great script on Lord of the Rings with Peter Jackson that we're moving forward on and we'll be giving you more detail on that," Zaslav revealed during the call regarding The Hunt for Gollum. It's a small update, but it's something! Zaslav not only shared that the script is great but also that Warner Bros. is moving forward on the highly anticipated new movie.
Earlier this spring, Warner Bros. set a December 2027 theatrical release date for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and it's been suggested that filming will begin sometime in early 2026, or least by the middle of next year at the latest. Zaslav's latest mention of the project didn't come with an update about the production timeline, so we can assume nothing has changed on that front.
The return to Middle-earth will take place between the events of The Hobbit film trilogy and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and likely focus on Gollum's whereabouts when Gandalf and Aragorn were unable to track him down. He's a sneaky little thing who's surely had some interesting adventures we don't know about, even though these ones aren't based on a specific J. R. R. Tolkien novel.
The Hunt for Gollum will be the first of Warner Bros.' planned two new Lord of the Rings movies from Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, though the second movie's direction hasn't been revealed just yet. Obviously, the possibilities for what story the second movie could tell are endless since there are plenty of dynamic characters to pull from throughout the series.
For now, the priority at Warner Bros. appears to be getting Gollum's story right and making sure The Lord of the Rings' triumphant return to the big screen goes off without a hitch. We will surely be hearing more updates about The Hunt for Gollum as 2026 nears, including the news that cameras have started rolling, which will finally make the movie real rather than a vague concept.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits theaters on Dec. 17, 2027.