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Update: On Thursday, May 9, 2024, it was officially announced that veteran Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis, who famously played Gollum in both the original trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, will be returning to play the character in addition to directing the upcoming 2026 film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Serkis has previously directed three feature films: Breathe, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. He’s also developing an animated fantasy drama titled Animal Farm.
Back in March 2023, BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast was the first to ask Serkis about his feelings on new Lord of the Rings movies after they were announced, so we’ve republished the interview below.
Original article:
Back in late February, news broke that Warner Bros. and New Line reached an agreement to develop new films in the Lord of the Rings franchise and are hoping to get original franchise director Peter Jackson back in the fold.
Beginning in 2001 with Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the original Lord of the Rings trilogy spawned three Oscar-nominated films, with the third actually winning Best Picture. Then, about a decade later, Warner Bros. began rolling out (admittedly not as well-received) prequel films with The Hobbit franchise.
At this time, “Middle-Earth” is currently the 12th highest-grossing film franchise of all time with almost $6 billion at the global box office.
In addition to Jackson in the director’s chair, those six films all have one thing in common, and that’s the presence of famed motion-capture actor Andy Serkis, who stars in the franchise as Gollum, a One Ring-corrupted monster who spends his life in pursuit of the artifact.
During a recent interview with BroBible’s Post-Credit Podcast, we asked Serkis — promoting the release of his new film, Netflix’s Luther: The Fallen Sun — about the development of new Lord of the Rings films and the actor indicated that he would happily return to the franchise should they come calling.
“Look, [producers] Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens are sort of a second family that I have become part of and have gone on to make so many films with,” Serkis told BroBible’s Post-Credit Podcast.
“And — let me tell you — they are the best and most incredible people to work with. I think that there are so many other potential Middle-Earth projects which could come about, and if they’re doing them, I would, of course, jump at the chance to have that relationship rekindled … Middle-Earth has never left me.”
Serkis will next be seen starring alongside Idris Elba and Cynthia Erivo in Luther: The Fallen Sun, which hits Netflix on Friday, March 10. He’s also set to begin production of The Batman: Part Two later this year, as reports indicate filming will start in November.
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