The realm of fantasy is decked out with several stories that could very easily captivate one’s attention. However, it is arguably without question that the Lord of the Rings trilogy reigns supreme as possibly the greatest cinematic achievement the genre has ever seen. From Howard Shore’s iconic score, which effortlessly captures all that is mythical, mysterious and inviting about Middle-earth, to the brilliance of the actors bringing the story to life, the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy is simply unmatched.
Elijah Wood Reveals One of the Most Iconic Lord of the Rings Moments Almost Didn’t Happen [Exclusive]
Based on the pioneering novels by J. R. R. Tolkien, the trilogy follows Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) on a quest to destroy the One Ring, a powerful item capable of subduing all the free people of Middle-earth, aided by a group of friends and companions dubbed The Fellowship of the Ring. Decades later, The Lord of the Rings is returning to tell new stories with the third season of Prime Video’s original series, The Rings of Power, all set for a November 11 premiere date. While Rings of Power returns us to Middle-Earth, albeit during the Second Age, one project takes us once more to the quite familiar Third Age. for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a feature film directed by Andy Serkis, is set to arrive on December 17, 2027.
The eagerly anticipated project will follow Gollum in the years before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring as we build up to the War of the Ring. Besides directing, Serkis will return to his iconic role as Gollum, as will Wood, who will return to play the original trilogy’s main hero, Frodo Baggins, besides Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), of course. First time around, Wood enjoyed significant screen time, from his unassuming days in the Shire till he arrived at Mount Doom. However, in the upcoming project, such lengthy screen time is not in the plans. “I mean, it’s sort of like getting the band back together a little bit with that film,” Wood told GamesRadar+. “A lot of the creative team who were part of Lord of the Rings are part of Hunt for Gollum. I’m just looking forward to seeing all those people again. It feels like a family reunion.” When The Hunt for Gollum returns, it would be thoroughly exciting to see so many familiar faces again, but Wood’s face will be fleeting. “My part to play is relatively small, but I’m just excited to go back and spend some time in New Zealand and see old friends,” he added.
Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz Which Lord of the Rings Race Do You Belong To? Hobbit · Elf · Dwarf · Man · Orc
Middle-earth is home to many peoples — the courageous, the ancient, the stubborn, the ambitious, and the wretched. Ten questions will determine which race truly claims your soul. The answer may surprise you. Or it may confirm what you already suspected.
🌿Hobbit
🌟Elf
⚒️Dwarf
⚔️Man
💀Orc
01
What does your ideal day look like? How we rest reveals as much as how we fight.
02
How do you feel about the passing of time? Our relationship with mortality shapes everything we value.
03
Danger is approaching. Your first instinct is to: Fight, flight, or something in between — it’s more revealing than you’d think.
04
You stumble upon a great treasure. What do you feel? What we desire — and what we do about it — is the true test.
05
How important is community and belonging to you? No race of Middle-earth is truly alone — but some prefer it that way.
06
How ambitious are you, honestly? Ambition is neither virtue nor vice — it depends entirely on what you want.
07
Where do you feel most at home in the natural world? Middle-earth is vast — and every race has its place within it.
08
What kind of strength do you most respect? Every race defines strength differently — and they’re all at least a little right.
09
What do you want to leave behind when you’re gone? Legacy is the story we tell ourselves about why any of this matters.
10
Be honest — what do you actually want most out of life? The truest question always comes last.
Middle-earth Has Spoken You Belong To…
The race that claimed the most of your answers is your true kin. If two tied, both are shown — you walk between worlds.
◆ A TIE — YOU WALK BETWEEN TWO RACES ◆
🌿
Your Race
The Hobbits
You are, at your core, a creature of comfort, community, and quiet joy — and there is nothing small about that. Hobbits are proof that heroism does not require ambition, that the bravest heart can beat inside the most unassuming chest. You value good food, warm hearths, close friends, and a world that stays largely untroubled by dark lords and quests. When adventure does find you — and it will — you rise to it not because you sought it, but because the people you love needed you to. That is not ordinary. That is the rarest kind of courage in all of Middle-earth.
🌟
Your Race
The Elves
Ancient, graceful, and carrying a weight of memory most mortals cannot fathom, you are one of the Elves. You see the world in its fullness — its beauty, its impermanence, the unbearable ache of watching everything you love eventually fade. You pursue perfection not from pride, but because excellence is how you honour the time you have been given. Others may see you as remote or melancholy. They are not wrong, exactly. But they mistake depth for distance. You feel everything — which is precisely why you have learned to carry it so quietly.
⚒️
Your Race
The Dwarves
Stubborn, proud, fiercely loyal, and possessed of a work ethic that would exhaust most other races before breakfast — you are Dwarf-kind through and through. You do not ask for approval and you do not offer it cheaply. Your loyalty, once given, is given for life. Your grudges last longer. You love deeply and defend ferociously, and the things you build — with your hands, with your sweat, with generations of accumulated craft — are made to last. Not for glory. Because anything worth doing is worth doing properly, and you have never once done anything by half measures.
⚔️
Your Race
The Race of Men
Mortal, ambitious, flawed, and magnificent — you belong to the most complicated race in Middle-earth, and that complexity is your greatest strength. Men are capable of cowardice and extraordinary bravery, of cruelty and breathtaking sacrifice, sometimes within the same breath. You feel the urgency of your finite years, and it drives you. You want to matter. You want to leave something behind. You fall, and you rise, and the rising is what defines you. Tolkien called mortality the Gift of Men — not a curse, but a fire that burns bright precisely because it does not burn forever. That fire is you.
💀
Your Race
The Orcs
Brutal, survivalist, and contemptuous of anything that can’t defend itself — you answered with the instincts of an Orc, and there is a certain savage honesty in that. You do not dress up your desires in polite language or pretend you want things you don’t. You want power, survival, and to never be at the bottom of any hierarchy ever again. Orcs are not evil by nature — they were made from something that was once good, and broken into this shape by forces they did not choose. What remains is fierce, territorial, and deeply aware that the world is not kind. You’ve made your peace with that. The question is what you do with it.
What Happens in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’
In the Third Age, after the One Ring came to Isildur, it became lost for generations before falling into the hands of Gollum. The Dark Lord Sauron had his forces continually searching for it. The Hunt for Gollum will offer a backstory of sorts forSmeagol beyond what we get in the original trilogy. Thanks to Wood speaking in a separate interview, the film will chronicle his slow transformation from Smeagol to Gollum. Gollum’s pursuit of Bilbo Baggins after the hobbit takes the Ring from his cave. Also, we will see Rangers, charged with seeking Gollum in hopes of learning of the Rings’ location before the Dark Lord.
Besides Serkis as Gollum and Wood as Frodo, the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumalso includes Ian McKellen (X-Men) as Gandalf the Grey and Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Thranduil. Kate Winslet (Titanic) and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) have also been cast, but the biggest news lies in one role in particular: Aragorn. The role was expertly played by Viggo Mortensen in the original trilogy but fans will see Jamie Dornan (Belfast) step in as Aragorn. The Hunt for Gollum also brings back the original creative team behind Jackson’s trilogy, with Peter Jackson (King Kong), Fran Walsh (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), and Philippa Boyens (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) involved behind the scenes.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumis scheduled to be released on December 17, 2027. Stay tuned at Collider for more.
Release Date
December 17, 2027
Writers
Arty Papageorgiou, Phoebe Gittins, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, J.R.R. Tolkien
