The new installment in the sprawling fantasy franchise, to be directed by original Gollum actor Andy Serkis, will commence production in May, McKellen says. Ian

The new installment in the sprawling fantasy franchise, to be directed by original Gollum actor Andy Serkis, will commence production in May, McKellen says.

Ian McKellen reveals Gandalf and Frodo to return for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

The new installment in the sprawling fantasy franchise, to be directed by original Gollum actor Andy Serkis, will commence production in May, McKellen says.

By Ryan Coleman

Published on August 17, 2025 09:21PM EDT

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Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'. Credit:

New Line Cinema

Back to Middle-earth, post haste! Old friends are waiting.

Ian McKellen, the legendary actor behind Gandalf the Grey in the original *Lord of the Rings *film trilogy, dropped a bombshell bit of casting news over the weekend.

"I hear there's going to be another movie based in Middle-earth, and it's going to start filming in May. It's going to be directed by Gollum, and it's all about Gollum," McKellen teased at the *For the Love of Fantasy *fan event in London on Sunday.

Last year, original *LOTR *helmer Peter Jackson was announced as producing a new live-action installment in *The Lord of the Rings *franchise with Gollum actor Andy Serkis directing and starring in the new film that was slated for a 2026 release at the time. The film is now expected in December 2027.

McKellen then shocked the audience with new details.

"I'll tell you two secrets about the casting: There's a character in the movie called Frodo, and there's a character in the movie called Gandalf," he said.

Smiling to himself as the crowd gasped in amazement, McKellen joked, "Apart from that, my lips are sealed!"

* *has reached out to a representative for Warner Bros. for comment.

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Earlier in the day, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and President David Zaslav discussed Serkis' film during the company's quarterly earnings call. Zaslav noted that *The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum *joins the likes of upcoming *Batman*, *Superman*, and *Harry Potter *projects at the top of the studio's priority list.

Though McKellen did not specifically say whether he and original Frodo Baggins star Elijah Wood would reprise their roles in the film, Wood was present at the fan event, smiling conspiratorially as McKellen spoke alongside fellow *LOTR *alums Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and John Rhys-Davies.****

Andy Serkis as 'Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'. Everett Collection

Since the original *Lord of the Rings *film trilogy wrapped up in 2003 with the Oscar-winning *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*, McKellen, Wood, and Jackson all returned to Middle-earth with the *Hobbit *trilogy, which unspooled between 2012 and 2014.

Jackson was not involved in Amazon's *The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power *series, but last year he produced the franchise's first animated foray into the works of J.R.R. Tolkein, *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim*. Jackson was joined on the project by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, both producers on the original film trilogy who are also on board* The Hunt for Gollum*.

In June, Serkis told Collider, "We're very early on in the process. We've been talking about the film over the course of the last year. We're about to start a period of prep in the next few months or so. We will be shooting in the early to mid-part of next year, I guess, and then it'll be as long as it takes to shoot, which — it's a sizable movie — all ready for a December 2027 release."

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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