Ian McKellan sent an entire fandom into excited confusion when he seemed to suggest on the British talk show The Morning that Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum was, in fact, two films. Now, Philippa Boyens, the screenwriter who worked with Peter Jackson on both of his Lord of the Rings trilogy, has clarified that The Hunt for Gollum is just one movie but added another juicy tidbit.
“I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films!” Boyens said in an interview with Empire Magazine. “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.”
Boyens is working on the script for The Hunt for Gollum alongside Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. In speaking with Empire, she said that it was quite an intense story” that “falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines of Moria. It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”
Andy Serkis, who played Gollum using motion capture, is set to direct the film, and multiple stars, including McKellen, have expressed interest in returning if it would make sense for them to do so.
Boyens added that, beyond The Hunt for Gollum, most of their other ideas for future Rings projects involve the grey wizard that McKellen originated. “We’re playing around with a number of ideas, but most of those ideas do include Gandalf,” the writer added. “So Gandalf would potentially return for two live-action films.”
The Hunt for Gollum is currently slated for a late 2026 release date.
