Oh that Ian McKellen! Always causing trouble, even when he doesn’t mean to. Last month he spilled that he might be returning to play Gandalf in a new Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum, that Andy Serkis will direct. He also added something he wasn’t supposed to, which is that it might be split into two movies. Well, turns out McKellen didn’t have it quite right.
In a new chat with Empire, LOTR franchise writer Phillippa Boyens confirmed that Serkis’ The Hunt for Gollum will not be a two-parter. The misunderstanding comes from them plotting a second, top secret LOTR movie…
“I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films!” Boyens said. “That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being ‘The Hunt For Gollum,’ the second one still to be confirmed. It’s quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria.” She explained further, “It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”
The confusion for McKellen comes from the possibility Gandalf could appear in both movies.
“We’re playing around with a number of ideas, but most of those ideas do include Gandalf,” Boyens admitted. “So Gandalf would potentially return for two live-action films.”
It’s also possible more animated movies, like this December’s The War Of The Rohirrim, will happen if that one is a hit with fans.
“We have an absolute banger of a second film that would just be incredible as an anime,” Boyens teased. “But let’s see if there’s an appetite for it.”
With the Tolkien universe expanding of late, and Prime Video’s The Rings of Power just wrapping a second successful season, it’s only just the beginning.
