New Lord of the Rings Movie Officially Brings Frodo Back to The Shire in First Images
Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Yesterday was Hobbit Day, and fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's work had plenty to celebrate on the momentous holiday. The Lord of the Rings is full of life more than ever at the moment, across television, the silver screen, and beyond. In less than two months, Prime Video's prequel series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, will return with the first four episodes of its third season on November 11, bringing war to Mordor once more and introducing Jamie Campbell Bower to Middle-earth as Celeborn. Former The Late Show host and Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert is also preparing his own cinematic journey into Mordor in collaboration with Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee, covering the eighth chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs. There's even a new Middle-earth-set game from Kingdom Come developers Warhorse Studios in early development.
However, most eyes are set on the horizon of December 17, 2027, when The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will ride into theaters. Production began in the franchise's picturesque longtime home of New Zealand back in July with director and star Andy Serkis seamlessly slipping back into the rasping tones of the titular wretched creature. Set between Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and original Lord of the Rings trilogy, it explores the perspective of Gollum, as Gandalf, played by a returning Ian McKellen, sends the ranger Strider, aka Aragorn, now embodied by Jamie Dornan, out in search of the creature to stop him before he can reveal the ring's location to Sauron's forces. A lot of buzz has surrounded the return of many of Jackson's original stars, and now, Warner Bros. is puilling back the curtain on the effort to bring Middle-earth back to life.
In accordance with Hobbit Day, the studio unveiled a collection of set photos from The Hunt for Gollum on its official TikTok page. Included among the set is a first look at Elijah Wood's return to The Shire as Frodo Baggins, though he's only shown from behind. That's probably intentional, given much of the cast will use de-aging technology to appear as they did in the original, but he does look accurate for what is shown of him. Otherwise, the rest of the images are a nostalgic look at the idyllic Shire, showing off the gorgeous, green-laden landscape and actors dressed once more for Middle-earth, while Serkis mans the camera.
- Release Date
- December 17, 2027
- Director
- Andy Serkis
- Writers
- Arty Papageorgiou, Phoebe Gittins, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Franchise(s)
- The Lord of the Rings
-
Gollum
-
Gandalf
-
Kate Winslet
Marigol
-
Strider
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.