The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will follow Aragorn's pre-Fellowship of the Ring quest to find the titular character before he can reveal the One Ring's location to the Dark Lord Sauron.
As intrigued as we are to spend time with Strider, much of the focus will seemingly be on Sméagol's past and what led to him becoming the tormented creature we first encountered in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The filmmaker recently appeared at the Cannes Film Festival and revealed (via SFFGazette.com) that 2019's Joker movie proved a key source of inspiration for how he and director Andy Serkis went about unravelling Gollum's story.
"We were thinking about the original 'Joker' film, the one with Joaquin Phoenix," Jackson said of the R-rated DC Comics adaptation that explored Arthur Fleck's transformation into the Clown Prince of Crime. "The way that explored the Joker’s psychology while it was telling a story. We’ve got the story that’s in the appendices, and we’ll tell that story, but we’ll tell it from an internal Gollum perspective."
"You’re taking written things by Tolkien and filming them from a certain POV, and that means you have to get inside his head. I’ve got no particular desire to get inside Gollum’s head," he said with a laugh. "Andy Serkis can do that himself."
"I thought the film would be more interesting if Andy did it," Jackson continued. "I honestly, truly believe that if it’s a film about Gollum’s addiction and internal struggles, Andy would make a much more interesting film than me. If I thought I’d do a better film, I’d do it. But I thought, there’s a guy that’s going to make a really interesting film here and it’s not me."
There's a lot of confusion surrounding the rights to The Lord of the Rings franchise, particularly with Amazon exploring Middle-earth's past in The Rings of Power. Now, as Warner Bros. starts expanding on the events of the movies, Jackson explained what's available to them.
"We’re legally allowed to adapt anything from The Lord of the Rings books. Now, 'The Lord of the Rings' has got these big appendices at the end. Fifty or 60 pages of Tolkien’s notes, background on characters and stuff that’s not in the actual novel but is tacked on at the end," he explained. "Little side stories, embellishments, enlargements — and part of ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ is described in that."
"Gollum’s childhood and how he became what he was. Him trying to get to the Shire, and the Rangers tracking him down. He ends up being captured and taken to Mordor — it’s all in the appendices," Jackson concluded.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum stars Andy Serkis as Smeagol/Gollum, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Lee Pace as Thranduil, Jamie Dornan as Strider, a.k.a. Aragorn, Leo Woodall as Halvard, and Kate Winslet as Marigol.
The story delves into Gollum's past, back in a time when he was known as a young Stoorish lad called Sméagol.
Serkis will direct the movie. Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, who wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy, are penning the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit director Peter Jackson, meanwhile, is producing the project.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is set to be released in theaters on December 17, 2027.